Ukraine’s Zelensky replaces commander as emboldened Russia digs in
- Ukraine’s president appoints new special operations commander in eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions
- But progress by Russian forces described as ‘tortoise-like’ as Ukraine gets more modern weapons to fight with
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky replaced a top military commander in eastern Ukraine following major territorial losses to Russia.
In a decree, Zelensky dismissed Hryhoriy Halahan and appointed in his place “Viktor Horenko as commander of the special operations forces of the Ukrainian Army”.
Major General Halahan, 44, had led the unit in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions since August 2020. He is being transferred to the SBU intelligence service, where he will serve as deputy head of the counter-terrorism centre.
Following Russia’s invasion in February 24, Ukraine has completely lost control of the Luhansk region.
About 50 per cent of the neighbouring Donetsk region has been captured by Russian troops, with Ukraine fearing some of its own personnel have been working with its enemy.
Five months since Russia invaded Ukraine, a stalemate seems to be emerging. Ukraine did well initially to thwart Russia from taking the capital Kyiv, forcing Moscow to concentrate on the eastern regions where pro-Russian separatists had been fighting for years.