Zelensky Fires Army Chief In Ukraine Military Shake-Up

Valery Zaluzhny replaced by Oleksandr Syrsky in the most serious change to top military brass since Putin's invasion

- CHRIS STEVENSON TOM WATLING

Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky has sacked his armed forces chief as part of a major shake-up of the country's military leadership nearly two years after the start of the war with Russia.

The move, which comes after weeks of speculation that Mr Zelensky and General Valery Zaluzhny were clashing over frontline strategy, marks the most serious change in Ukraine’s top military brass since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

General Zaluzhny has been replaced by Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of Ukraine’s land forces. He has been credited with a role, under General Zaluzhny, in the surprise and successful counterattack by Kyiv’s troops in Kharkiv in the summer and autumn of 2022 and has since been serving as the head of military operations in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine has faced an increase in attacks by Putin’s forces both on the ground and in the air in recent weeks, with a longexpected counteroffensive by Kyiv that started last summer having failed to gain back the level of territory from Russian forces that Ukraine would have hoped.

Much of the 600-mile frontline has moved little in recent months, but Russia is looking to make gains of its own in areas of eastern and northern Ukraine. This situation has been exacerbated by a failure in the US Congress to agree to fresh military aid for Ukraine after the previous support ran out in December.

Soldiers on the frontline have spoken to The Independent about shortages of ammunition and weapons to fight Putin’s weapons.