Kyiv [Ukraine], December 14: A Ukrainian official confirmed to the Financial Times on December 13 that Oleksandr Lutsenko had been removed from his position as commander of the Donetsk operational and tactical group in eastern Ukraine.
The official, who did not want to be named, added that Mr Lutsenko would be given another position in the army's ground forces. That position has been given to Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi.
Ukrainian forces, under Mr Lutsenko's command, have been unable to stop a full-scale Russian offensive that has seen them take control of a large area in just the past month.
Earlier on December 13, Ukrainian military commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky spoke from a command center near the city of Pokrovsk, the center of the Donetsk operation and an important logistics hub for the Ukrainian army. Syrsky said that battles were raging against a Russian army that was "superior . . . mainly in terms of manpower."
"The battles are extremely fierce. The Russian side is throwing all available forces and trying to break through our army's defenses," Mr. Syrsky said.
Deep State, a group monitoring the Russia-Ukraine conflict , assessed that Ukrainian defenders of four villages south of Pokrovsk were at risk of being surrounded, as Russian forces attacked "from all sides".
Russian forces have recently advanced at their fastest pace since 2022, and their current focus is on Pokrovsk, as well as the key towns of Kurakhove and Velyka Novosilka to the south. The area is close to three major highways leading to Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and the city of Dnipro, which are crucial to Ukrainian military operations across much of the 1,000km frontline.
Highlighting the difficult situation facing Ukrainian soldiers on the eastern front, Mr Syrsky warned that he would soon have to make "unconventional decisions to strengthen the stability of the defence line and destroy enemy forces more effectively".
Mr Syrsky, who engineered Kyiv's controversial offensive into Russia's Kursk province in August and its successful counteroffensive in Kharkiv province in 2022, is said to be willing to take risks to try to disrupt enemy plans and change the tide on the battlefield.
Ukraine's biggest challenge is manpower, analysts say. Experienced Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or wounded, while efforts to mobilize manpower have largely stalled.
There is currently no information about Ukraine's or Russia's reaction to the new information from the Financial Times .
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper