JRL NEWSWATCH: “Zelensky’s Military Shake-Up Ties Him to Battlefield Performance” – WSJ
“Decision to replace Ukraine’s popular top general comes as the army struggles to hold back Russian forces”
“… The move is aimed at rebooting the country’s war effort, Zelensky said …. [R]eplacing a figure as popular as Zaluzhniy with … Syrskiy, … seen as closer to the president, will bind Zelensky more tightly to battlefield decisions, making him more accountable for any failure, analysts said. … It is a fraught moment for the actor-turned-politician who rallied the nation to resist Russia’s onslaught nearly two years ago, winning plaudits and billions of dollars in aid from the West. After successfully fending off Russia’s initial attempt to take Kyiv and then reversing some of Moscow’s gains, Zelensky and Ukraine’s other wartime leaders had a tougher time in 2023. The failure to break through Russian defenses … last summer piled pressure on Zelensky as [Western] deliveries of military equipment … began to falter. … Ukrainian forces are now facing acute shortages of ammunition as Congress stalls on a $60 billion aid package ….”