Ukraine’s Armed Forces chief has dismissed two corps commanders after setbacks on the battlefield, the General Staff confirmed Monday.
Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky removed Volodymyr Silenko, head of the 17th Army Corps, and Maksym Kituha, head of the 20th Corps, citing “shortcomings in troop command.”
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The General Staff told Suspilne that ineffective leadership by the two officers led to losses of troops and territory in the Zaporizhzhia and Novopavlivka sectors. Both men will continue service in other positions, it added.
The dismissals are the first since Ukraine introduced a corps-based command system earlier this year, according to Ukrainska Pravda, which first reported the changes on Sept. 15. The outlet said the moves were made one to two weeks ago.
Silenko’s corps has been stationed in the Zaporizhzhia region, where Ukrainian forces recently lost the village of Kamyanske and part of Plavni on the Dnipro River. Kituha’s corps was positioned on the border of the Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, where Russian forces managed to push into the latter.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) recently assessed that Russian forces have advanced in the eastern Zaporizhzhia region. Geolocated footage published Sept. 15 indicated that Russian units seized Olhivske, northeast of Hulyaipole.
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that elements of its 114th Motorized Rifle Regiment were involved. Russian military bloggers also claimed further gains near Temyrivka and Novoivanivka, though those reports remain unconfirmed. ISW added that Russian forces continued offensive operations in western Zaporizhzhia but did not make additional advances.
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Last week, Syrskyi said that Russia currently enjoys a threefold superiority in manpower and equipment, which rises to a four- to sixfold advantage in some areas.
In a Facebook post, he wrote that Moscow aimed in August to break through Ukrainian defenses and encircle forces in the Pokrovsk-Myrnohrad area.
He added that large-scale offensives were also planned in the Novopavlivka and Zaporizhzhia directions – the same sectors where he later dismissed two corps commanders – but were disrupted by Ukraine’s Defense Forces, forcing Russia to delay its push in Zaporizhzhia and redeploy marine units to the Donetsk region.
It is unclear whether the dismissals came before or after Syrsky’s public statement.
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