Ukraine war: Zelensky replaces troop commander after Russia captures another town

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky replaced the commander of the eastern front, the most heated battlefield of the Ukraine war, after Russian forces captured another strategic town there.

Brigadier-General Andriy Hnatov was replaced as the battlefield commander in the east by Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi, overall commander of ground forces, who will keep his previous duties. Hnatov was given a role overseeing training and communications.

In his nightly video address late on Sunday, Zelensky said the aim was to strengthen the command of troops in the Donetsk region. Donetsk, a battlefield since 2014 and one of four provinces Russia claims to have annexed since its 2022 full-scale invasion, has been the main focus of fighting for more than a year.

The Ukrainian military confirmed on Monday that it had withdrawn from the Donetsk region town of Velyka Novosilka, a day after Russia said it had captured it. Viktor Trehubov, a military spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern front, confirmed that Russian troops had entered the town but said fighting continued on the outskirts.

Russian forces have been slowly but steadily advancing in eastern Ukraine for more than a year in relentless ground combat that has caused massive military losses on both sides. Kyiv, for its part, has managed to capture and hold a pocket of territory inside Russia over the past six months.

The new eastern commander, Drapatyi, 42, is well respected in the army, where he is credited with stopping a Russian offensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region last year.