This handout photograph taken and released by Ukrainian presidential press service on February 8, 2024, shows Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky (lleft) shaking hands with Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi during their meeting in Kyiv.
| Photo Credit: AFP
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on February 8 appointed commander of the ground forces Oleksandr Syrsky as the country’s new Army chief, in a dramatic military shakeup nearly two years into Russia’s invasion.
“Starting today, a new management team will take over the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Mr. Zelensky said. “I appointed Colonel-General Syrsky as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
Ukraine’s outgoing Army chief Valery Zaluzhny conceded that the country’s military strategy “must change” almost two years into Russia’s invasion, shortly after he was removed from his post.
“The tasks of 2022 are different from those of 2024. Therefore, everyone must change and adapt to the new realities as well. In order to win together,” Gen. Zaluzhny said after his long-rumoured dismissal was announced.
Mr. Zelensky said he had invited the country’s outgoing armed forces chief Valery Zaluzhny to remain part of the country’s efforts to beat back Russian forces.
“I invited Valery Fedorovych (Zaluzhny) to continue to be in the team,” Mr. Zelensky said in a statement on social media, in which he said the two men had discussed new leadership in the armed forces and that “the time for such a renewal is now”.
