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The Kyiv Independent’s contributor Ignatius Ivlev-Yorke spent a day with a mobile team from the State Emergency Service in Nikopol in the south of Ukraine as they responded to relentless drone, artillery, and mortar strikes from Russian forces just across the Dnipro River. Nikopol is located across from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the city of Enerhodar.

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Zelensky officially dismisses Joint Forces Commander Andrii Hnatov, now serving in General Staff

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Zelensky officially dismisses Joint Forces Commander Andrii Hnatov, now serving in General Staff
Andrii Hnatov (front) on Aug. 3, 2024. (Joint Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces / Facebook)

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Feb. 26 officially dismissed Brigadier General Andrii Hnatov as commander of the Joint Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, after appointing him deputy chief of the General Staff in January.

Hnatov has held the position since June 26, 2024, replacing Yurii Sodol.

In late January, Zelensky announced that Hnatov would be sent to the General Staff to serve as a deputy chief, saying, "his task is a new level of training of operational headquarters and a higher quality of interaction between the headquarters and the front."

"We discussed these and some other changes with Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky," add that "tasks have been set at all levels," the president said at the time.

While holding the position of Joint Forces commander, Hnatov also served as the commander of the Khortytsia operational-strategic group.

When announcing Hnatov would be moved to the General Staff in January, Zelensky appointed Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi, commander of Ukraine's Ground Forces, to lead the Khortytsia operational-strategic group.

Hnatov previously served as the deputy commander of the Southern Operational Command.

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Tim Zadorozhnyy

News Editor

Tim Zadorozhnyy is a news editor at The Kyiv Independent. Based in Warsaw, he is pursuing studies in International Relations, focusing on European Studies. Tim began his career at a local television channel in Odesa. After moving to Warsaw, he joined the Belarusian opposition media outlet NEXTA, starting as a news anchor and later advancing to the position of managing editor.

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