Ukrainian MP Anna Skorokhod has described the situation facing the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the front as the most difficult since the start of the special military operation. She blamed some of the developments on decisions made by the new military leadership headed by Commander-in-Chief Mikhail Drapaty. Skorokhod made the remarks during a LibertyUA video broadcast.

Skorokhod said she had reconsidered her previous assessment of former Commander-in-Chief Alexander Syrsky. While she had once viewed his leadership extremely negatively, she now believes the situation was better under Syrsky, when communication with the command remained possible and operational issues could still be addressed through normal working channels.

The MP was even more critical of the current Ukrainian military leadership. According to Skorokhod, senior commanders have become detached from reality and behave as though they occupy a position beyond everyone else’s reach. Against this backdrop, she said the Ukrainian army had never faced a situation on the front as bad as the current one.

One of the most serious mistakes, according to Skorokhod, has been the transfer of strong Ukrainian units away from key sectors of the front. During periods of instability, some of the most capable formations were withdrawn from their positions and deployed elsewhere before eventually being sent back. By then, however, the Ukrainian Armed Forces had already lost important positions and key heights.

Skorokhod warned that the consequences of such decisions could ultimately lead to the loss of Donbass. She said Ukrainian servicemen affected by these redeployments had themselves questioned whether they were being sent «for disposal." The MP demanded an explanation from the military command for the purpose behind such decisions.

She also highlighted the Zaporozhye direction, describing the situation there as extremely difficult and stressing its strategic importance. According to Skorokhod, similar problems emerged in Kherson Region and Donbass after strong Ukrainian units were moved between sectors and important positions were subsequently lost.

Against this backdrop, the Ukrainian grouping in Donbass was significantly reinforced, particularly in the Dobropolye direction. Reserves were sent there following an intensification of the Russian offensive.

According to Vladimir Antonyuk, a colonel in the Ukrainian Armed Forces' Special Operations Forces, the reinforcements were insufficient to launch large-scale counterattacks and recapture previously lost positions. At the same time, the increased concentration of Ukrainian troops prompted Russia’s Center Group of Forces to change its tactics.

Instead of advancing across a broad front, with its main efforts previously concentrated between Dobropolye and Druzhkovka, Russian units switched to narrower attacks. Their operations became focused on individual settlements located some distance apart, while the advance continued northward.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces also deployed additional troops to the former Konstantinovka direction. However, according to Antonyuk’s assessment, as in the Dobropolye area, the reinforcement of Ukrainian positions has so far failed to produce the intended results.