Zelenskyy replaces AFU Joint Forces Commander Sodol
After a meeting with the General Staff and
Commander-in-Chief on June 24, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
dismissed AFU Joint Forces Commander Lt. Gen. Yurii Sodol, replacing him with
Brig. Gen. Andrii Hnatov.
“I have decided to replace the commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' Joint Forces, Lieutenant General Yurii Sodol, with Brigadier General Andrii Hnatov," Zelenskyy announced in a Telegram post.
Hnatov is a decorated military officer; he commanded the defense of Mykolayiv and Bakhmut, and served as Deputy Commander of Operational Command South since 2022.
Sodol served as Joint Forces Commander since February 2024. Both his appointment and tenure were often criticized by military observers and commentators. Ukrainian activist and blogger Serhii Sternenko described his appointment as a “personnel disaster” on May 20. Ukrainian MP Mariana Bezuhla described Sodol as a “criminal,” responsible for failing to defend northern Kharkiv Oblast from a Russian incursion in mid-May.
Earlier on June 24, Chief-of-Staff of National Guard Brigade Azov, Bohdan Krotevych, petitioned the State Bureau of Investigations to probe Sodol’s conduct. Krotevych accused the general of placing little value in preserving the lives of Ukrainian soldiers and being responsible for losing “entire regions and dozens of towns.”
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