Ukraine’s Zelenskyy promotes top army commander amid Kursk incursion

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has promoted his top army commander to a four-star general, his office said on Saturday, just weeks after Kyiv’s surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.

Commander-in-Chief Oleksander Syrskyi, 59, who had held the military rank of colonel general, was promoted to a general, the decree published on the presidential website said.

Ukraine launched an offensive into Russia’s Kursk region on Aug. 6. Kyiv has claimed control of more than 90 settlements and set up a military commandant office.

While the incursion into Kursk is an embarrassment for Russia, Moscow’s forces have inched forward in recent months against Ukrainian troops in the eastern Donetsk region.

Syrskyi, who was born in 1965 in Russia’s Vladimir region, has lived in Ukraine since the 1980s. He was appointed as Ukraine’s army chief in February.