Volodymyr Zelenskyy Makes Major Shake-Up In Ukraine War Strategy

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)– Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Ukraine’s leading general on Thursday and informed him it’s time for somebody brand-new to lead the army in what total up to a significant shake-up of Ukraine’s war method.

In a post on X, Zelenskyy stated he thanked Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi for his 2 years of service as commander-in-chief and gone over possible replacements for the leading military task. “The time for such a renewal is now,” Zelenskyy stated.

Zelenskyy states he has actually designated Сol. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the leader of Ukraine’s ground forces, to lead the army. Syrskyi, 58, has actually given that 2013 been associated with the Ukrainian army’s effort to embrace NATO requirements.

Zaluzhnyi, in a Telegram message, did not reveal he had actually stepped down however stated he accepted that “everybody needs to alter and adjust to brand-new truths” and concurred that there is a “requirement to alter techniques and method” in the war.

The declaration followed days of speculation stimulated by regional media reports that Zelenskyy would sack Zaluzhnyi, a relocation that would total up to the most severe shakeup of the leading military brass considering that Russia’s major intrusion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian forces declared to have actually shot down a Russian attack helicopter in eastern Ukraine near the city of Avdiivkawhere soldiers are battling from street to street as Russia’s army actions up its four-month project to surround Kyiv’s safeguarding soldiers.

AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File

Ukrainian soldiers utilized a portable anti-aircraft rocket to remove the Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopter, among the Russian flying force’s most dangerous weapons, according to Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, the leader of Ukrainian systems battling on the southeastern cutting edge.

The approximately 1,500-kilometer (930-mile) line of contact has actually moved little bit throughout current months of wintry weather condition. As the war in Ukraine nears its two-year anniversary, Avdiivka has actually ended up being “a main focus” of Moscow’s forces, the U.K. Defense Ministry stated in an evaluation Thursday.

Street-to-street battle is occurring in the city as Ukrainian soldiers look for to keep open their primary supply path in the middle of extreme barrage, the ministry stated on X, previously called Twitter.

The General Staff of Ukraine’s militaries reported Thursday that its soldiers had actually warded off 40 opponent attacks around Avdiivka over the previous 24 hours. That is approximately double the variety of everyday Russian attacks at other points along the cutting edge.

Russia’s Pravda paper reported Thursday that the Russian army was trying to cut a crucial logistics supply path for Ukraine in the town of Lastochkyne, about 6 kilometers (4 miles) west of Avdiivka.

The Russian armed force has actually utilized electronic warfare to get the Starlink interactions system which Ukrainian soldiers utilize to interact, Pravda stated.

Ukraine has actually developed several defenses in Avdiivka, total with concrete strongholds and a network of tunnels. Regardless of huge losses of workers and devices, Russian soldiers have gradually advanced because October

The battle has actually progressed into a gruesome effort for both sides. It has actually been compared to the 9 months of defending Bakhmut, the Ukraine war’s longest and bloodiest fight. It ended with Russia recording the bombed-out, deserted city last May in what Moscow hailed as a significant victory.

Both Bakhmut and Avdiivka lie in Ukraine’s Donetsk area. Moscow-backed rebels took part of the area in 2014 and Russia unlawfully annexed all of it in 2022 with 3 other Ukrainian areas.

Russia wishes to catch the whole Donetsk area, where it presently holds simply over half of the area.

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