KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s new military chief said Friday that his immediate goals are to improve the rotation of troops at the front lines and harness the power of new technology, at a time when Kyiv’s forces are largely on the defensive in the war with Russia.
Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, who previously was the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, spoke a day after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy put him in charge of the battlefield campaign with the war poised to enter its third year. He replaced the broadly popular Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi.
“New tasks are on the agenda,” Syrskyi said on his Telegram channel.
Though he provided little detail, his remarks appeared to align with Zelenskyy’s stated aim of bringing “renewal” to the armed forces with Thursday’s shake-up and adopting a fresh approach to the fight.
I hope Oleksandr can now take a much needed break. I can’t fathom that amount of stress.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, who previously was the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, spoke a day after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy put him in charge of the battlefield campaign with the war poised to enter its third year.
But the changes at the top won’t solve some of Ukraine’s biggest problems: a shortage of manpower that has helped sap morale and may require a mass mobilization, and the inadequate supply of Western weapons to take on Russia’s might.
Kyiv officials are “rethinking” their war strategy “with a new emphasis on improved technology and updated command and control,” said James Nixey, an analyst at London’s Chatham House think tank.
She cited a lack of ammunition, uncertainty about new weapons from Ukraine’s Western allies, a manpower shortage, people’s reluctance to be drafted, the tiredness of troops getting no respite from the front lines, and the question of how Zaluzhnyi’s departure might affect morale.
That may be a reference to previous criticism of Syrskyi’s strategy of holding on for nine months to the city of Bakhmut, which brought the war’s longest and bloodiest battle and cost Ukraine dearly in troop losses, but also served to sap Russia’s forces.
Russian President Vladimir Putin used an interview broadcast late Thursday with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson to urge Washington to recognize Moscow’s interests and persuade Ukraine to sit down for talks.
The original article contains 896 words, the summary contains 226 words. Saved 75%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!