KYIV – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy continued strikes to “reboot” the management of his authorities and army whilst Russia’s army launched one other wave of drones throughout Ukraine in a single day, together with the capital, Kyiv.
Ukraine on February 11 introduced that Oleksandr Pavlyuk — launched from his first deputy protection minister publish a day earlier — was named the brand new commander of Ukraine’s floor forces.
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Pavlyuk changed Oleksandr Syrskiy, had been promoted to develop into the commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces after changing Common Valeriy Zaluzhniy on February 8.
New presidential decrees additionally named Yuriy Sodol, the previous head of Ukraine’s Marine Corps, as the brand new commander of Ukraine’s mixed forces.
Sodol changed Serhiy Nayev, who mentioned he heard about his dismissal from the media.
”I discovered from the media about my dismissal from the publish of Commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which I had held since 2020. These had been troublesome occasions. Some of the troublesome durations within the historical past of Ukraine,” Nayev wrote on Telegram.
Nayev thanked ”all generals, officers, sergeants, and troopers for his or her selfless service, for coordinated work and joint efforts, for belief and assist [and] all Ukrainians for his or her patriotism and important help to our military.”
Brigadier Common Ihor Skibyuk was picked as commander of Ukraine’s air assault forces, and Main Common Ihor Plahuta as commander of Ukraine’s territorial protection forces.
In a assertion on Telegram on February 10, Zelenskiy mentioned that he hoped to “reboot” the higher ranges of Ukraine’s armed forces with skilled fight commanders.
“Now, people who find themselves well-known within the military and who themselves know properly what the military wants are taking over new duties,” he mentioned.
Syrskiy has signaled that his rapid objectives embrace bettering troop rotation on the entrance strains and harnessing the ability of latest know-how.
Syrskiy is thought to be the architect of an important Ukrainian victory of the warfare, the counteroffensive within the japanese Kharkiv area in September 2022 that chased Russian forces out of the cities of Kupyansk and Izyum.
The change within the management of the armed forces comes at a vital time for Ukraine, which has didn’t recapture important territory from Russia since late 2022.
The continued Russian assaults additionally come as Kyiv faces a possible disruption in army support provide from the USA, its greatest backer, as Republican lawmakers block a $61 billion support package deal over calls for for deep modifications in U.S. border coverage.
On the battlefield, the most recent Russian assaults adopted a lethal drone strike a day earlier on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest metropolis within the east of the nation and near the border with Russia.
The drone strike on a gas depot killed seven folks, together with three kids, and wounded one other three, regional Governor Oleh Synyehubov mentioned on Telegram early on February 10.
The Ukrainian Air Pressure mentioned on Telegram that its air-defense methods destroyed 40 out of 45 Russia-launched Shahed assault drones in a single day, lots of which reportedly focused port infrastructure within the south of the nation.
”The air alert within the capital lasted nearly two hours,” Serhiy Popko, the pinnacle of Kyiv’s army administration, mentioned on Telegram.
Popko mentioned all drones over Kyiv had been destroyed on their strategy. No casualties or harm was reported in or round Kyiv, based on first stories.
Air-defense methods destroyed 26 Russia-launched Shahed drones over a number of southern areas, Ukraine’s southern army command mentioned on Telegram, including that the Mykolayiv area close to the Black Sea suffered among the heaviest assaults.
No less than one civilian was injured within the southern Ukraine assault, the army mentioned.
”The precedence for the enemy was once more the coastal strip of infrastructure and agro-industrial amenities,” the army mentioned.
Residential buildings and a gasoline pipeline in Mykolayiv suffered broken from falling particles from a downed drone and the next blast wave, the army command mentioned.
4 drones had been shot down over the Black Sea port of Odesa, the army mentioned.
A day earlier, no less than eight folks had been killed and several other others wounded in a spherical of Russian drone strikes and shelling that additionally broken port infrastructure vital for Ukraine’s meals exports, the army and regional officers mentioned.