More from the French news agency AFP on the sacking of Ukraine's defense minister:
President Petro Poroshenko will nominate his fourth defense minister of the year Monday, after dismissing the incumbent ahead of high-level talks with Moscow aimed at bringing peace to the Western-backed former Soviet state.
Poroshenko's official website said he would nominate a new defense chief after "accepting the resignation" of Valeriy Geletey, who was only appointed in July.
The sacking highlighted a sense of failure that has enveloped the once-proud force as the six-month conflict with pro-Russian rebels drags on and the death toll from fighting approaches 3,400.
The military's performance has humiliated Ukrainians who had been celebrating the success of a bloody popular uprising that ousted the then Kremlin-backed leader in February and propelled Kyiv on its Westward course.
Geletey's removal threatens to undermine Poroshenko's position ahead of a crunch meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Milan on Friday that will also include German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The Kremlin said Merkel -- a vocal Poroshenko ally who helped arrange the two leaders' first meeting on the sidelines of a Normandy summit in June -- called Putin on Sunday "to discuss preparations" for Milan.
Poroshenko told the nation he had "no illusions" going into his fourth meeting with Putin since rising to power in May.
"These will not be easy negotiations, but I am ready for them," Poroshenko said in a Sunday evening television address.
"My goal (is) our country's unshakable independence, its territorial integrity, the inviolability of its borders, and the return of peace," he said.
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More from RFE/RL's News Desk:
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has accepted the resignation of Defense Minister Valeriy Heletey.
A statement on Ukraine's presidential website on October 12 said Poroshenko felt it was time to change "the defense leadership of the country."
It added that the president will "submit a nomination" for a new defense minister to parliament on October 13 and that he expected a vote on the nominee to take place the next day.
Heletey, who was appointed by Poroshenko in July, received criticism in recent weeks for the deaths of about 100 Ukrainian forces in the eastern city of Ilovaisk, who were encircled by pro-Russian separatists and reportedly supported by Russian forces.
Protesters at the Defense Ministry building in Kyiv in late August also demanded Heletey be sacked.
The website statement said Poroshenko had also formed an Intelligence Committee that would be chaired by Ihor Smeshko.
BREAKING: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has accepted the resignation of Defense Minister Valeriy Heletey. MORE TO COME
A photo of those graves in Rostov-on-Don mentioned earlier.