Until yesterday, the commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, general Alexander Shirsky, he is now the head of the Ukrainian army, replacing Valery Zaluzny, who was replaced by Volodymyr Zelensky.

General Sirsky was born in 1965 in a small village in the Vladimir region of Russia. In the 1980s, he studied at the Higher Combined Arms Command School in Moscow. He continued his military training in Ukraine, graduated with honors and began to climb the ranks of the army.

Before the Donbas war in the 2000s, the new head of the Ukrainian armed forces commanded the 72nd Mechanized Brigade and was promoted to major general. In November 2013, Sirsky, on behalf of Kiev discussed the changes in the Ukrainian army, according to NATO standards at the NATO headquarters.

Sirsky and Zaluzny

At the start of the war in eastern Ukraine in 2014, Sirsky was chief of staff of counter-terrorist operations.

The plan for the counterattack in the Kharkov region was drawn up by General Sirsky, who in the initial phases of the war defended Kiev and the northern front.

The then commander of the ground forces also drew up a plan for the liberation of the city of Kupyansk.

The Ukrainian president described his new commander as “the most experienced general of Ukraine”, underlining that he was a commander during the defense of Kiev at the beginning of the Russian invasion almost two years ago, and then the counteroffensive in the fall of 2022 that liberated Kharkiv Oblast.

Zelensky stated that the Ukrainian army needs immediate changes with a new approach to conscription and recruitment. Ukrainian forces have proven they can regain control of the airspace, but have failed to achieve their land targets in 2023, he said.