Kyiv, Ukraine
Reuters
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy replaced Ukraine’s popular army chief with his ground forces commander on Thursday, a huge gamble at a time when Russian forces are gaining the upper hand nearly two years into their war.
The shakeup ushering in a new military leadership follows months of speculation about a rift between Zelenskiy and army chief General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, who many Ukrainians see as a national hero.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Commander in Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi shake hand and pose for a picture during their meeting, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 8th February, 2024. PICTURE: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters
“As of today, a new management team takes over the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Zelenskiy said in a statement.
He promoted ground forces chief Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, 58, to be the new head of the Armed Forces, citing his role in overseeing the defence of Kyiv in 2022 and the lightning Kharkiv counteroffensive later that year.
RUSSIAN, UKRAINIAN FORCES FIGHTING INSIDE AVDIIVKA, UKRAINIAN MILITARY SAYS
Russian troops are engaged in fighting with Ukrainian forces inside the beleaguered town of Avdiivka, which has been under sustained Russian assault since mid-October, Ukraine’s military said on Thursday.
Russian forces have been trying to advance on the town, noted for its vast coking plant and seen as a gateway to the Russian-held city of Donetsk, 20 kilometres to the east.
A view shows residential buildings heavily damaged by permanent Russian military strikes in the front line town of Avdiivka, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine , on 8th November, 2023. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty/Serhii Nuzhnenko via Reuters/File photo
“I can confirm this — yes, there are clashes going on not only in the area of private homes north of the city but already within the town itself,” Dmytro Lykhovyy, a Ukrainian military spokesperson, told national television.
Russian troops were concentrated north of the city, he said, with the aim of severing the sole road supplying Ukrainian forces in the town. The situation, he said, was “difficult but controllable”.
Pounded by fighting in the region since 2014 that surged in February 2022 when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Avdiivka has sustained heavy damage.
Avdiivka Mayor Vitaliy Barabash said there were now 941 residents in the town that was once home to 32,000 people. The town was briefly seized by pro-Russian forces when they captured large chunks of territory in eastern Ukraine in 2014 but was retaken by Ukrainian troops who later installed major fortifications.
Barabash had earlier told national television that Russian forces were pressing from all directions, and the situation was increasingly difficult for Ukrainian troops defending the town.
“The enemy is pressuring from all directions. They are storming with very numerous forces,” Barabash said, describing the situation as “very difficult and hot”.
Avdiivka’s fall would be hailed by Russian authorities as a hard-fought victory before an election next month in which President Vladimir Putin is almost certain to be re-elected.
The Ukrainian military’s general staff, in its evening report, said its forces had repelled 17 attacks on Avdiivka and five more in nearby areas.
The general staff also reported heavy Russian shelling near Bakhmut, another devastated town that fell to Russian troops last May with heavy loss of life on both sides.
Ukraine’s ground forces said the situation was tense across the east, with Russian troops trying to break through defences near Chasiv Yar, a town west of Bakhmut.
– OLENA HARMASH and TOM BALMFORTH in Kyiv, Ukraine/Reuters
Syrskyi, who goes by the call sign “snow leopard”, takes the helm amid deep uncertainty as Kyiv awaits vital military aid from the United States that has been delayed by Republicans in the US Congress for months.
The US State Department said the move to replace Zaluzhnyi was a “sovereign decision”.
With Ukraine struggling to overhaul how it mobilises civilians into the army, the sacking of Zaluzhnyi could deal a blow to troop morale on a 1,000 km front. It could also backfire politically, hurting Zelenskiy’s ratings.
Zelenskyi said he was grateful to Zaluzhnyi for his time as army chief and posted a photograph of the two men shaking hands and smiling, with Zaluzhnyi flashing the peace sign.
Messages of gratitude for Zaluzhnyi, known widely as the “Iron General”, flooded social media following the announcement. Some Ukrainians posted images of the top general alongside images of hearts.
Passers-by in central Kyiv openly questioned the move.
“This is a very odd decision. We know our enemy and it is not Zaluzhnyi,” said Svitlana Kalinina, a consultant.
“I am very upset. I don’t know about others but I am very upset. This is a signal that worries me,” said Olena, a doctor.
Late last year a poll put the public’s trust in Zaluzhnyi at over 90 per cent – significantly higher than Zelenskiy’s 77 per cent.
Under Zaluzhnyi’s command, Ukrainian forces rebuffed Russia’s initial assault on Kyiv and reclaimed swathes of territory in 2022. But the battlefield momentum turned against Ukraine last year as a much-vaunted counteroffensive proved unable to break through heavily defended Russian lines.
Russia has since ramped up offensive pressure on the eastern front, trying to cut off and encircle the town of Avdiivka.
Zelenskyi indicated it was last year’s setback that underpinned his decision to replace Zaluzhnyi.
“In the second year of this war, we won the Black Sea. We won the winter. We proved that we can regain control over the Ukrainian sky. But, unfortunately, we could not achieve the goals of our state on the ground.”
The military shakeup unfolded over a series of statements in which Zelenskiy said he had met Zaluzhnyi to discuss changes to the military leadership, adding that he had asked the general to remain “on his team.”
In a separate statement, Zaluzhnyi said he had met Zelenskyi for an “important and serious conversation” and that a decision had been made to change battlefield tactics and strategy.
“The tasks of 2022 are different from the tasks of 2024. Therefore, everyone must change and adapt to new realities as well. To win together too,” his statement said.
The two statements were published within moments of one another, suggesting that the two most prominent wartime figures in Ukraine had coordinated closely to put on a display of unity.
As ground commander, the new army chief Syrskyi is also closely associated both with Ukraine’s initial successes and its more recent setbacks. In an interview with Reuters last month, he signalled the importance of rotating out exhausted troops who have been under near-constant artillery fire.
“Our task and…one of the reasons for the attention on mobilisation is the timely replenishment of those units that are head for replacement.”
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Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine have exchanged 100 prisoners of war from each side in the nearly two-year-old war, with the United Arab Emirates acting as an intermediary, both countries said on Thursday.
Russia’s Defence Ministry, in a post on the Telegram messaging app, provided few details of the exchange, but said returning soldiers would undergo medical examinations in Moscow.
It noted the UAE’s “humanitarian mediation”, as did the Ukrainian body overseeing exchanges of POWs.
A still image from video, released by the Russian Defence Ministry, shows what it said to be captured Russian service personnel in a bus following the latest exchange of prisoners of war at an unknown location in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in this image taken from handout footage released on 8th February, 2024. PICTURE: Russian Defence Ministry/Handout via Reuters
Zelenskiy, writing on Telegram, said the majority of those brought home had taken part in the three-month defence of the Sea of Azov port of Mariupol, eventually captured by Russian forces in May, 2022.
Pictures alongside the post showed servicemen draped in the blue and yellow national flag, embracing and speaking on mobile telephones.
Ukraine’s Coordinating Committee on Dealing with Prisoners of War said 28 of the returning servicemen were injured or ill.
It said 84 had taken part in the defence of Mariupol, with the others serving in other parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, partly occupied by Russian forces.
– Additional reporting by DAN PELESCHUK, YULIIA DYSA, PAVEL POLITYUK, ANASTASIIA MALENKO, MAXIM RODIONOV and RON POPESKI
