Ukraine’s Zelenskiy chooses a new head of the land troops and says changes need to be made

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine changed the head of the military’s land forces on Friday with Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi. This comes as Russia makes progress in the east and Kyiv’s troops are short-staffed.

When Zelenskiy stated that the 42-year-old would take over for Lieutenant General Oleksandr Pavliuk, who was put in charge of the land forces in a big shake-up in February 2024, he said that “internal changes” were needed.

“The main task is to increase noticeably the combat efficiency of our army, ensure the quality of servicemen training, and introduce innovative approaches to people management in Ukraine’s Armed Forces,” he said.

In a Telegram message, he said, “The Ukrainian army needs internal changes to fully reach our state’s goals.” This was after meeting with his top military and government leaders.

Drapatyi is well-liked in the army, and military experts were happy with his appointment. Drapatyi took over the Kharkiv front in May and stopped the Russian advance in the northeast, which made the front more stable.

Colonel Oleh Apostol, who is in charge of the 95th separate air-assault unit, was also named by Zelenskiy as Oleksandr Syrskyi’s replacement.

He said that Drapatyi and Apostol had “proven their effectiveness on the battlefield” and praised both of them.

With 33 months having passed since Russia’s full-scale attack in February 2022, Ukraine is now behind in the battle against a much bigger and better-equipped enemy.

The Russian troops are slowly moving into the area east of Donetsk. On Friday, while visiting two important Ukrainian-held sites in the Donetsk region, Syrskyi, the head of the army, said that he would send more troops to the eastern front with extra supplies, ammo, and tools.

Russia has also launched waves of counterattacks, and Ukraine has lost about 40% of the land it took in August when it invaded Russia without warning in the Kursk area.

During a war, the head of the land troops is in charge of getting people ready to fight.

According to military experts, Ukraine’s military is short-staffed, which makes it harder to move troops off of the more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) of border or build up backup forces.