UKRAINE: Six Ukrainian deputy defence ministers were fired today following the dismissal two weeks ago of defence minister Oleksii Reznikov in a corruption scandal, officials said.

Deputy defence ministers including Hanna Maliar, Vitalii Deyneha and Denys Sharapov, as well as the state secretary of the Ministry of Defence, Kostiantyn Vashchenko, were fired, according to the Telegram account of Taras Melnychuk, permanent representative of the Cabinet of Ministers.

No explanation of the firings was given.

SOUTH AFRICA: A head-on collision between a truck and a bus ferrying workers to a mine in South Africa’s northern Limpopo province left 20 people dead, authorities said today.

Construction company Murray & Roberts Cementation said 17 of its workers, who were being transported to the Venetia mine in Musina close to the Zimbabwe border, died in the accident on Sunday. Four other workers were injured.

NAGORNO-KARABAKH: The International Committee of the Red Cross said today that it shipped badly needed flour and medical supplies to an ethnic Armenian region within Azerbaijan that has suffered under a road blockade since late last year.

The Nagorno-Karabakh region has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces, backed by Armenia, since the end of a separatist war in 1994. 

AFRICAN UNION: The second phase of the African Union troop withdrawal from Somalia has started, the bloc said today.

Last year, the United Nations security council unanimously approved a new African Union Transition Mission in Somalia to support the Somalis until their forces take full responsibility for the country’s security at the end of 2024.