You're reading: Poroshenko appoints Serhiy Nayev commander of Joint Forces

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has appointed Lieutenant-General Serhiy Nayev commander of the Joint Forces.

“On my initiative, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the law on Donbas reintegration. This document created a new legal basis for repelling enemy aggression in Donbas and, in the long term, for restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity. The format of the Anti-Terrorist Operation will be changed to the Joint Forces Operation. The forces and means of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and other military formations and law enforcement bodies will be managed by the commander of the Joint Forces. I decided to appoint Lieutenant-General Serhiy Nayev to this post,” he said during his visit to Donbas on March 16.

Poroshenko said that he had tasked the Joint Forces commander with strengthening the Ukrainian Armed Forces so that “they were not only defensible but also capable of liberating the occupied territories.”

On March 7 Nayev was appointed deputy chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Prior to that, he served as chief of staff and first deputy commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces.