Ukraine replaces commander of eastern front after Russia captures another town

KYIV - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky replaced the commander of the eastern front, the most heated battlefield of the Ukraine war, after Russian forces captured another strategic town there.

Brigadier-General Andriy Hnatov was replaced as the battlefield commander in the east by Major-General Mykhailo Drapatyi, overall commander of ground forces, who will keep his previous duties.

Brig-Gen Hnatov was given a role overseeing training and communications.

In his nightly video address late on Jan 26, Mr Zelensky said the aim was to strengthen the command of troops in the Donetsk region.

Donetsk, a battlefield since 2014 and one of four provinces Russia claims to have annexed since its 2022 full-scale invasion, has been the main focus of fighting for more than a year.

The Ukrainian military confirmed on Jan 27 that it had withdrawn from the Donetsk region town of Velyka Novosilka, a day after Russia said it had captured it.

Mr Viktor Trehubov, a military spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern front, confirmed that Russian troops had entered the town but said fighting continued on the outskirts.

Russian forces have been slowly but steadily advancing in eastern Ukraine for more than a year in relentless ground combat that has caused massive military losses on both sides.

Kyiv, for its part, has managed to capture and

hold a pocket of territory inside Russia

over the past six months.

The new eastern commander, Maj-Gen Drapatyi, 42, is well respected in the army, where he is credited with stopping a Russian offensive in the north-eastern Kharkiv region in 2024.

Ukrainian forces halted Russia’s initial assault on the capital Kyiv after the invasion in 2022 and achieved several big successes recapturing territory during the first year of the war.

But they have largely been on the defensive since the failure of a major counterattack in mid-2023.

Ukrainian analysts estimate Russia captured 3,000sq km of territory in 2024.

With the war approaching its three-year mark in February, Ukraine is outmanned on the battlefield and its troops are exhausted.

The government tried to address the issue by

lowering the mobilisation age to 25 from 27

and introducing tougher rules for those evading the call-up. But it has so far resisted lowering the mobilisation age further to boost manpower.

Mr Trehubov, the eastern forces spokesman, said the logistics hub of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region remained the main Russian target.

Around 7,000 people are believed to remain inside Pokrovsk, which had around 60,000 residents before the invasion.

“The Pokrovsk direction accounts for at least half of all combat clashes, there is a lot of fighting there. It is the most active direction,” Mr Trehubov told Ukrainian TV. “They are trying to bypass the city, cut the supply lines and drive our troops out of the city.” REUTERS