Ukraine, Russia Down Drones In Overnight Fighting
Ukraine said Friday that its military downed 10 Russia drones overnight in the eastern Kharkiv region. Meanwhile, Russia’s defense ministry said its military’s overnight operations included downing 19 Ukrainian drones over four regions – Kursk, Bryansk, Oryol, and Krasnodar, and the Black Sea. On Thursday, after days of speculation in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the country’s top military commander who has led the two-year fight against Russia’s invasion, and replaced him with Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi. With the war seemingly at a stalemate, Zelenskyy said in a statement that he met with Zaluzhnyi, seen by some as a national hero for defending Ukraine, and thanked him for leading the battle against Moscow’s forces when many military analysts thought Ukraine would quickly be overrun. Nonetheless, Zelenskyy said it was time for a change in the military’s leadership. “The time for such a renewal is now,” Zelenskyy said on the X social media platform. “We discussed the renewal that the Armed Forces of Ukraine require. We also discussed who could be part of the …