Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has fired Ukraine’s top commander, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi.
The move follows strife between the president and the popular military chief after the failure of Ukraine's counteroffensive, according to a report from CNN.
“The time for such a renewal is now,” Zelensky wrote in his Telegram channel, ahead of the decision.
"Therefore, everyone must change and adapt to the new realities as well. [We] have just met with the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. It was an important and serious conversation. It was decided that we need to change our approaches and strategy," he added.
After the failed counteroffensive from Ukraine, Zaluzhnyi admitted for an interview at the Economist that the war was at a stalemate. “Just like in the first world war we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate,” he stated. The popular general said that there would need to be a massive breakthrough in technology in order to overcome Russian forces.
Zelensky criticized him at the time of his statements and said his comments would only benefit Russia in the war.
Zaluzhnyi will be replaced by Oleksandr Syrskyi, who has served as the Commander of Ukrainian Land Forces since 2019.
Syrskyi led a successful defense of Kyiv early in the war and was named a “Hero of Ukraine” in April 2022. He also oversaw Ukraine's defense of the city of Bakhmut, one of the bloodiest battles of the war so far on both sides. He was trained at the Higher Military Command School in Moscow.
