After days of speculation in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday fired General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the country’s top military commander who has led the two-year fight against Russia’s invasion, and replaced him with Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi.
With the war seemingly at a stalemate, Zelenskyy said in a statement that he met with Zaluzhnyi, seen by some as a national hero for defending Ukraine, and thanked him for leading the battle against Moscow’s forces when many military analysts thought Ukraine would quickly be overrun.
Nonetheless, Zelenskyy said it was time for a change in the military’s leadership.
“The time for such a renewal is now," Zelenskyy said on the X social media platform.
"We discussed the renewal that the Armed Forces of Ukraine require. We also discussed who could be part of the renewed leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” he said.
Zelenskyy added that he asked Zaluzhnyi to remain "part of the team."
In his own statement, Zaluzhnyi said that he had an "important and serious conversation" with Zelenskyy and that a decision was 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.
Zaluzhnyi, 50, was viewed favorably by Kyiv’s troops, and some political analysts in Ukraine have speculated that he could someday oppose Zelenskyy for the presidency when elections resume after the war.
The switch to Syrskyi, 58, could be jarring for troops. He commanded Ukraine’s ground troops and was credited with protecting Kyiv in the first month of the war and a successful counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region in fall 2022.
But rank-and-file troops are said to view him as a Soviet-style commander who kept troops under fire too long in the eastern city of Bakhmut when Ukraine should have withdrawn.
Zelenskyy and Zaluzhnyi posted a picture on their social media accounts of them smiling and shaking hands. Zaluzhnyi wrote, “A decision was made about the need to change approaches and strategy.”
Russian drones strike
On the battlefield, Ukrainian officials reported Thursday that Russia attacked overnight with 17 drones, leaving damage in Mykolaiv and Odesa but no reported casualties.
The Ukrainian air force said the country’s air defenses destroyed 11 of the drones over the Mykolaiv, Odesa, Vinnytsia and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
Vitaliy Kim, the regional governor in Mykolaiv, said on Telegram there was damage to residential and industrial buildings.
In Odesa, Regional Governor Oleh Kiper reported damage to an unfinished high-rise building and a school.
Russia’s military said Thursday it shot down a Ukrainian drone that was targeting Crimea.
The attacks came hours after Zelenskyy vowed in his nightly address to “retaliate against Russia” for every missile and drone it launches. Zelenskyy also said Ukraine will work to bolster its air defenses.
The EU and NATO
After talks with Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Wednesday, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the Ukrainian leader “asked for additional ammunition, drones and air defense systems.”
Borrell said his top priority is mobilizing European Union military aid for Ukraine.
United States and NATO officials on Wednesday reaffirmed their strong support for Ukraine’s continued battle against Russia as top humanitarian leaders denounced a wave of missile attacks Zelenskyy said killed at least five people.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan, speaking at NATO headquarters, sounded a confident tone, despite the dramatic collapse Wednesday of a Senate deal to fund Ukraine’s defense and buttress the southern U.S. border.
In remarks delivered before the bill cratered, U.S. President Joe Biden said the lapse in U.S. support is “just what Putin wants.”
Sullivan, though, said he was hopeful.
“Even in the last 24 hours, you've seen a significant number of Republicans come out and say that no matter what else happens, we need to move forward a package of support for Ukraine,” he said. “As President Biden said [Tuesday], history will record any failure to deliver the type of assistance that's contained in the package that was put forward this week.”
He also stressed, as have other administration officials, that if Washington does not deliver, there is no Plan B.
“At the end of the day, there is no alternative to the United States stepping up to the plate and providing a level of resources that allow Ukraine to have the artillery, the air defense systems and the other capabilities they need,” Sullivan said in Brussels. “And time is of the essence in this regard. So, we're going to stay focused on that, and we believe that we still can and will deliver it.”
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
