Ukraine’s military leadership has changed the commander of the Donetsk tactical group amid Russia’s continued advance toward the city of Pokrovsk in southwestern Donbass. The replacement of General Aleksandr Lutsenko was announced on Friday by Ukrainian MP Mariana Bezuglaya on Telegram.
Pokrovsk (also known as Krasnoarmeysk) is the largest population center under Ukrainian control in the west of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). It has gone from a major supply hub for the frontline forts to being on the front line itself.
General Aleksandr Tarnavsky, who took part in the “failed southern counteroffensive in 2023” will be taking his place, Bezuglaya revealed. The general commanded the Ukrainian forces operating in the city of Avdeevka when Russian forces captured it. Tarnavsky claimed the chaotic retreat of Ukrainian forces from Avdeevka was in fact going according to plan.
The co-chairman of the council on integrating Russia’s new territories, Vladimir Rogov, connected the change of commander with the difficult situation for the Ukrainian troops. “The urgent change of the commander… is symbolic, the enemy directly points to the disastrous and difficult situation on the Pokrovsk and Kurakhovo directions,” he told RIA Novosti.
In the past 24 hours, Russian troops have liberated two villages in the DPR: Vesely Gai, located ten kilometers south of Kurakhovo, and Pushkino, 15 kilometers south of Pokrovsk. Kurakhovo is heavily fortified by Ukrainian forces and remains one of the last few major populated areas they control in southwestern Donbass. Pokrovsk is about 30 kilometers north of Kurakhovo. Last month, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky referred to these areas as “the most difficult” for Ukrainian forces.
In November, one Ukrainian commander told CNN that troops on the Pokrovsk front have been told to shoot unidentified persons on sight, fearful of Russian patrols infiltrating the sparsely held line. Another one told the outlet that only about 60 soldiers defended the key town of Selidovo when Russian forces took it last month.