Kremlin says Ukraine's new army chief will not change the situation at the front

The Kremlin dismissed Ukraine's change of army chief as irrelevant to the battlefield, saying Russian forces were continuing offensive operations across the entire front.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the removal of Oleksandr Syrskyi and appointed General Mykhailo Drapaty as his replacement. Drapaty is younger and regarded as a modernizer of the Ukrainian Army's structures.

"I do not think this will lead to changes at the front," Kremlin presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during his daily telephone news conference. He said the situation was well known and that Russian forces continued their offensive as part of what Moscow calls its special military operation.

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I do not think this will lead to changes at the front.

Peskov also presented the leadership change as evidence of what he called the "turmoil" of the "Kyiv regime," which he said was "staggering from within." He added: "That is obvious and can be seen with the naked eye."

Criticism of Syrskyi intensified after Zelenskyy dismissed Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov the previous week. Fedorov attributed his departure to a conflict with the army chief and accused Syrskyi of authoritarianism and failing to adapt to the new reality of a war shaped by drones. Syrskyi defended his record, saying the armed forces had reached their current level of technological development under his command, and indirectly criticized Fedorov for having an unrealistic view of the war.

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That is obvious and can be seen with the naked eye.