Ukraine has recaptured 270 square miles of its territory this year, outgoing Commander in Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Wednesday, confirming he was leaving the top military job.
“I am handing over to my successor an army that is not only holding the defense but is also on the offensive,” Syrskyi said in a statement on Telegram.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that a young major general, Mykhailo Drapatyi, would replace Syrskyi after days of street protests.
The move followed the ousting in a wider government reshuffle last week of tech-savvy reformist Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, which brought out into the open the deep divisions in the Ukrainian defense leadership.
Syrskyi has held the commander in chief position since early 2024, after playing key roles in Kyiv’s defense in the early days of the war and in a lightning counteroffensive to retake swathes of the northeastern Kharkiv region in 2022.
But he has faced harsh criticism for his rigid command style, which some service members have said resulted in unjustifiably high troop losses.
In his statement he highlighted his track record, including stopping a Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region, and an operation in Russia’s Kursk region in 2024.
