Ukraine's armed forces must adapt and find new ways of fighting to achieve victory over Russia, the country's new chief of the armed forces said on Friday in his first public comments since taking office.
Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, formerly the commander of ground forces, became commander-in-chief of Ukraine's 800,000-strong armed forces on Thursday, the highest-level change since the start of the war that comes at a challenging time for the country.
“Only changes and continuous improvement of the means and methods of war will make success possible,” General Syrskyi wrote in Telegram, singling out drones and electronic warfare as examples of new technology that would help Ukraine achieve victory.
His cautious and pragmatic tone was very different from the optimistic rhetoric used by Ukrainian politicians throughout the war.
Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said he had introduced General Syrskyi to the General Staff and promised “all possible support for the actions and decisions of the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
“Our defense is in safe hands,” said Mr. Umerov on Facebook.
The change in commanders comes at a difficult time for Ukraine, which has failed to regain control of any significant chunk of territory since late 2022 and now faces a possible cutoff in military aid supplies from the United States. , her biggest supporter.
Russian forces are now on the offensive across the front line and are gradually making inroads into the town of Avdiivka, which Moscow has been trying to capture for months.
As commander of the ground forces, General Syrskyi led the successful defense of Kiev at the start of the Russian aggression and a counter-offensive in the north-east, two of the greatest successes of the first year of the war.
However, some Ukrainian soldiers criticized him for his handling of the defense of the eastern city of Bakhmut, where thousands of troops were killed on both sides before Kiev's forces withdrew in May 2023.