Ukraine’s new top commander said on Wednesday that the armed forces have been told to press harder with their counteroffensives as Kyiv navigates the fallout of a major shake-up at the top of its military leadership.
“The President of Ukraine has set clear objectives for us: to continue and intensify offensive operations in all domains, to plan new operations behind enemy lines, to develop our military and its technologies, and to build up the capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” commander-in-chief Mykhailo Drapatyi said on Wednesday, a day after he replaced sacked general Oleksandr Syrskyi in the role.
Syrskyi was let go on Tuesday following days of protests across the country calling for his removal, after president Volodymyr Zelensky ousted the popular defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov last week, who supporters credit with having modernized the military.
As Kyiv tried to steady its military leadership, Russia struck an energy facility in Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region, leaving more than 100,000 people without power.
Russia’s defense ministry also said on Wednesday that its forces had captured two settlements in Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions.
