The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | March 11th, 2024: Ukraine's Leadership Shuffle & Boeing's Disastrous Year Just Got Worse

Episode Date: March 11, 2024

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:     The former head of Ukraine's armed forces is being sent to London to serve as the country's ambassador to the UK, after being fired last month from his post by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. We’ll discuss the domestic political concerns that may have motivated Zelensky’s latest strategic move. We’ll discuss the Justice Department’s decision to open a criminal inquiry into American aviation behemoth Boeing over a nearly catastrophic failure earlier this year, which comes amid another technical failure that injured some 50 people. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin.  Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Don't pass go and own it all. Only at Yamava, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You win? Details at yamava.com must be 21-20. Please gamble responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. It's Monday, 11 March. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage.

Let's get briefed. First, the former head of Ukraine's armed forces is being sent to London to service the country's ambassador to the UK, after being fired last month from his post by Ukrainian President Zelensky. We'll discuss the domestic political concerns that may have motivated Zelensky's latest strategic move. Also, we'll discuss the Justice Department's decision to open a criminal inquiry into American aviation giant Boeing over a nearly catastrophic failure earlier this year, which comes amid another technical failure that injured some 50 people earlier today. But first, our afternoon spotlight. I want to begin with the ongoing political discord within the highest ranks of Ukrainian leadership, particularly in the wake of President Zelensky's decision last month, to fire the now former commander-in-chief of Ukraine's military, Valerie Zilluzni. Heading into the weekend, Zolensky announced that Zaluzni would be taking a new post as Ukraine's ambassador to Britain, officially ending weeks of speculation regarding his political fate.

Zelensky had promised to keep Zilluzni in a high-profile government role, although giving him the ambassadorship is raising some eyebrows, as it will effectively remove Zilluzni from the country, and by definition, the date politics of Kiev. It also comes amid reports that officials in Ukraine were refusing to offer Zilluzni a role that would allow him to continue his military service. Officially, he underwent a military medical examination in the winter that determined he was unfit for military service, but, as I've said previously on the PDB, observers are skeptical of how Ukrainian officials have been handling Zelushni's situation. The new position will keep Zelousinie busy focusing on working

with European leaders to continue supporting Ukraine with military and financial aid in their battle against Putin. Now, as we've discussed previously, the pair had long been at odds with each other, as Zelensky had come to view Zilluzni as a potential political rival, given his widespread popularity throughout Ukraine. Prior to his firing, Zilluzni had been increasingly critical of Zelensky's leadership in public, regularly rebuffing the rosy picture of the war effort that Zelensky would try to paint in interviews. Zelluzni had been leading the military since the start of the war, guiding the country through some of the darkest days of Putin's invasion.

Now, observers say Zolensky had been threatened by Zoluzni's popularity and also is reportedly eager to remove anyone from his path that could challenge his leadership in the future. Zelensky, for his part, claimed that Zeluzzi had expressed his interest in diplomacy, and he framed the decision as a mutual one. We should note that Ukraine has not had an ambassador to the UK since Zelensky fired the former one in July 2023 for publicly criticizing his administration. A recent survey by a Kiev-based polling firm found that if an election were held today in

Ukraine, Zaluzni would actually trounce Zelensky. The survey, which asked thousands of Ukrainians who they would vote for in a hypothetical election, well, it found that Zilluzni would capture roughly 41% of the vote, while Zelensky would only have the support of approximately 24% of voters. As a reminder, Ukraine is under an extended state of martial law due to Putin's invasion, and that has forced leaders to put off elections until sometime in the future. Coming up after the break, we'll discuss the Justice Department's decision to open a criminal investigation into American aviation giant Boeing over a nearly catastrophic failure that occurred earlier this year. I'll be right back. Welcome back to the afternoon

bulletin. Boeing is once again making headlines as yet another one of its aircraft faced a near catastrophic mid-air issue today. Roughly 50 people were injured after a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, operated by Chilean-based Latam Airlines, experienced what's being described as a, quote, strong movement during a flight from Sydney, Australia to Auckland, New Zealand. According to reports, some passengers and crew on board were thrown into the roof of the plane due to a sudden and violent drop in altitude. The flight was able to land a schedule in Auckland, New Zealand, where at least 12 people were taken to the hospital, one person reportedly in serious condition. Ladham Airlines said it had a, quote, technical event, yeah, that would qualify as a technical

event during the flight, but neither the airline nor Boeing have commented on what caused the issue. And frankly, the incident couldn't come at a worse time for Boeing. Just yesterday, it was announced that the Justice Department of the U.S. was opening a criminal inquiry into the company over an incident that occurred on an Alaska Airlines flight earlier this year. If you'll remember, that flight experienced a blowout that left a significant hole in the side of a Boeing 737, just minutes after take off from Portland, Oregon. It was later determined that the blowout was caused when a panel, known as a door plug, became detached from the Max 9 jet. A preliminary investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board found that the plane may have left Boeing's factory without the plug bolted down.

Typically, you want to bolt all those things down before you give the plane to an airline. Citing documents and people familiar with the investigation, the Wall Street Journal said investigators had contacted some passengers and crew, including pilots and flight attendants, who were on that January 5th flight. Alaska Airlines said it was cooperating with the inquiry. In a statement released last week, they said, quote, in an event like this, it's normal for the DOJ to be conducting an investigation. We are fully cooperating and do not believe we are a target of the investigation, end quote. Now, Boeing has made no comment on the investigation. Separately, the Federal Aviation Administration announced last week that every Boeing 737 Max9 jet with a door plug would remain grounded for the

time being. The FAA reported that a six-week audit of Boeing found multiple instances where the company allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements. In addition, there have been other incidents just over this past month involving Boeing aircraft that are currently being investigated. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin, for Monday, 11 March. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And be sure to check out our new premium membership

at PDBPremium.com. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool.