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President Vladimir Zelensky replaced the commander of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine after a prominent military official accused the commander of causing mass casualties in the war with Russia.
In his evening video address on Monday, Zelensky said that Lieutenant General Yuriy Sodol had been replaced by Brigadier General Andriy Khnatov, without giving a reason for the shakeup.
Sodol was removed shortly after Bohdan Krotevych, the leader of Ukraine’s respected Azov Regiment, accused the general of causing significant military setbacks and heavy personnel losses.
In a post on the Telegram messaging app, Krotevych did not identify Sodol by name, but said the unnamed general “has killed more Ukrainian soldiers than any Russian general.”
“All military personnel now understand who I’m talking about, because 99 percent of the military hate him for what he’s doing,” Krotevich said, adding that he had called on Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) to conduct an investigation into Sodol’s activities.
After the announcement of Sodol’s dismissal, Krotevich wrote: “Gnatov is a very good officer. I hope the news from the front improves.’
Sodol was appointed last February during a a controversial military reshuffle in which Colonel-General Alexander Sirski replaced General Valery Zaluzhnya popular commander whose relations with Zelensky became strained.
Ukraine has recently made several military changes as Kiev’s forces seek to turn the tide and its troops are largely on the defensive.
Sodol led Ukraine’s eastern and southern ground forces, which have been fighting Russia’s advancing offensive that has been gaining momentum in recent months.
Khnatov has served as deputy commander of the southern theater of operations since 2022 and played a leading role in capturing much of the southern Kherson region from Russian invaders.
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Ukrainian military observers welcomed Sodol’s dismissal. Ilya Ponomarenko, a former defense reporter for the Kyiv Independent, described Sodol as “an extremely unpopular high-ranking military commander with a notoriously terrible record.”
In support of Kiev, EU officials announced late on Monday that the bloc had approved a first tranche of up to 1.4 billion euros (£1.1 billion) in military aid to Ukraine, coming from proceeds of frozen Russian assets. Separately, the US is expected to announce it is sending an additional $150m (£118m) in ammunition to Ukraine.
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