Ukraine’s newly appointed military chief, Oleksandr Syrsky, said on Friday his forces would need to evolve and be prepared to alter how they fight Russian troops to win the war.
The 59-year-old’s appointment this week was the biggest shake-up of Ukraine’s military leadership since the beginning of Russia’s fully-fledged invasion nearly two years ago.
“Only changes and continuous improvement in the means and methods of warfare will allow us to succeed on this path,” Syrsky said in his first public comments since taking up the post.
Despite successes on the battlefield, Syrsky is not a national icon like his predecessor, Valery Zaluzhny, and he has earned a reputation for being indifferent to military casualties.
He appeared to address this characterization in his statement, saying: “The lives and well-being of our servicemen have always been and remain the main asset of the Ukrainian army.”
Syrsky was born in Soviet Russia in 1965 and studied at a Red Army academy in Moscow.