According to media reports by the Ukrainian National News Agency (UNN) and Reuters, on June 19th local time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a presidential decree appointing Gennadiy Shapovalov as the commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Land Forces.
Shapovalov was born in 1978, received military education in Ukraine, and completed his studies at the U.S. Army War College, which specializes in training senior army officers. He has held positions such as commander of the 59th Motorized Brigade, head of the Ukrainian Military Cooperation Directorate, commander of the forces of the Ukrainian Southern Operational Command, and liaison officer at the NATO Coordination Center in Germany. In 2022, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general.
Gennadiy Shapovalov UNN
Zelenskyy stated on the same day that Shapovalov's experience working with NATO would be fully utilized to promote the reform of the Ukrainian army. "All beneficial experiences from this coordination work, as well as the combat experiences of our soldiers, must now be applied to the Ukrainian Land Forces, and reforms are imperative," he said.
Due to a deadly attack by Russian forces on a training camp in southeastern Ukraine earlier this month, Mykhailo Drahapaty, the former commander of the Ukrainian Land Forces, announced his resignation on June 11th local time. Zelenskyy stated that as part of the restructuring of the armed forces, Drahapaty had been appointed commander of the Joint Forces Command, focusing on operational issues to handle frontline matters.
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Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7517823846557270538/
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