Breathe new life into its army for the year 2024. The day after his appointment as head of the Ukrainian forces, Oleksandr Syrsky set out a “clear” plan to repel the Russians.
“Only change and continuous improvement of the means and methods of warfare will allow us to succeed,” General Syrsky said on Telegram in his first public speech as commander-in-chief.
He was appointed Thursday in place of the very popular General Valery Zalouzhny, the Ukrainian presidency believing that a change was necessary after two years of war, while the front seemed frozen.
President Volodymyr Zelensky immediately asked the new army commander for a “realistic” battle plan for 2024, at a time when Kiev is worried about the erosion of Western support caused by internal dissensions in the United States and the Union. European.
The problem of lack of ammunition
“It is a question of planning in a clear and detailed manner the actions of all organs” to allow “victory”, continued Oleksandr Syrsky, described Thursday as “the most experienced general in Ukraine” by the Ukrainian president.
Major problem currently, the Ukrainian army lacks ammunition.
However, “the rapid and rational distribution and delivery of everything necessary for combat units has been and remains the main task of military logistics,” assured the soldier.
Read alsoWar in Ukraine: Valeri Zalouzhny, an “iron general” more popular than Zelensky
The general, until then head of the land forces, also assured that limiting human losses was his priority, with soldiers affirming that he did not care enough about the lives of his men.
“The life and health of soldiers has always been and remains the main value of the Ukrainian army,” he vowed.
These changes, however, have not undermined the Kremlin's determination to “continue” its invasion of Ukraine, where the Russian army occupies around 20% of the territory.
“We do not think that these are factors that can change the course of the special military operation,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov on Friday.
Avdiïvka, still the epicenter of the battle
During an interview with conservative American journalist Tucker Carlson, Russian President Vladimir Putin himself assured that a Russian defeat in Ukraine was “impossible”.
“It will never happen,” he said, cheered up after a year 2023 marked by the failure of kyiv’s counter-offensive.
Russia had also made several changes within its general staff, notably following the humiliating retreat in September 2022 of its troops from the Kharkiv region, in northeastern Ukraine, and after the aborted mutiny of the Wagner group in June 2023.
After almost two years of fierce fighting, Ukraine faces many difficulties on the front.
His army lacks ammunition, essential to resist the Russian assaults which are increasing in particular at Avdiïvka, the epicenter of the battle.
The Kiev army is thus focusing on attacking military and energy installations on Russian soil with drones and missiles, a means of forcing the Moscow army to withdraw some of its men and equipment from the front. towards the rear lines.