Kyiv yesterday removed its top commander, the popular armed forces chief Valery Zaluzhny, in the biggest shake-up of its military leadership since the start of the conflict in February 2022.

“We don’t think it’s a factor that will change the course of the special military operation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, using Moscow’s preferred term for its offensive.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky appointed Oleksandr Syrsky as the country’s new commander – an experienced general responsible for two of Ukraine’s biggest military achievements.

At the start of the conflict he led the successful defence of Kyiv, scuppering Russia’s plans to seize the capital in a matter of days.

And later he commanded Ukraine’s lightning Autumn 2022 counter-offensive in the north-eastern Kharkiv region that expelled Russian troops from swathes of territory in an embarrassing setback for Moscow.

Peskov also said Friday that Russia would continue its military campaign “until the goals have been achieved”.

The frontlines have barely shifted in more than a year of fighting and both sides have lost tens of thousands of soldiers.

Zelensky said fresh military leadership was needed following last year’s much-awaited Ukrainian counter-offensive that fell flat.

Moscow has rejigged its military commanders on several occasions since the start of the offensive.

After the botched withdrawal from Kharkiv, Russia promoted notorious army general Sergey Surovikin to oversee the campaign – only to demote him months later and put the chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov in charge of the offensive.