The new commander-in-chief of Ukraine's armed forces, Mykhailo Drapatyi, said on Wednesday he had been tasked with stepping up counteroffensive actions and launching new operations inside Russia, Reuters reports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday tapped Drapatyi, 43, for the top military job, replacing Oleksandr Syrskyi, 60, in the biggest shake-up of Ukraine's military leadership since Russia's invasion in 2022.
The move followed the ousting in a wider government reshuffle last week of tech-savvy reformist Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, 35, which brought out into the open the deep divisions in Ukraine's defence 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," Drapatyi said on Facebook.
Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian energy infrastructure and logistics this year in a bid to undermine Moscow's war effort.
Major General Ihor Skybiuk, a former commander of the air assault forces, will become the new head of the General Staff, Drapatyi said.
Drapatyi, a respected and experienced commander, is described by many as a general from a new generation. Syrskyi has faced harsh criticism for a rigid command style that some service members have said resulted in unjustifiably high troop losses.
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