Ukraine replaces commander of eastern front after Russia captures another town
PHOTO CAPTION: Ukrainian service members are seen training near the town of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region Ukraine January 18, 2025. REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi
By Olena Harmash
KYIV (Reuters) -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy 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. Hnatov was given a role overseeing training and communications.
In his nightly video address late on Sunday, Zelenskiy 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The Ukrainian military confirmed on Monday that it had withdrawn from the Donetsk region town of Velyka Novosilka, a day after Russia said it had captured it. Viktor Trehubov, a military spokesperson 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, Drapatyi, 42, is well respected in the army, where he is credited with stopping a Russian offensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region last year.
Ukrainian forces halted Russia's initial assault on the capital Kyiv after Russia's 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 about 3,000 square km (1200 square miles) of territory last year.
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.
Trehubov, the eastern forces spokesperson, said that 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," Trehubov told Ukrainian TV. "They are trying to bypass the city, cut the supply lines and drive our troops out of the city."
(Additional reporting by Lidia Kelly and Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Peter Graff)
