KYIV, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelensky’s political party said on Sunday that it would move to replace Ukraine’s defense minister, as fierce fighting raged in the east amid what Ukrainian officials say is the beginning of a new Russian offensive.
The fate of the defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, has been the subject of increasing speculation amid a growing scandal about financial impropriety within the ministry and an accompanying government investigation into corruption.
Davyd Arakhamia, the head of Mr. Zelensky’s Servant of the People party in Parliament, said on Sunday that Mr. Reznikov would be transferred to the leadership of another ministry and that Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, the current military intelligence chief, would replace him.
Mr. Reznikov has not been directly implicated in any wrongdoing, and Mr. Arakhamia did not link the move to concerns about the corruption scandal. Mr. Reznikov would become the highest ranking official in Mr. Zelensky’s government to be reassigned in the nearly 12 months since Russia’s full-scale invasion began.
There was no immediate comment from Mr. Zelensky. Mr. Reznikov earlier on Sunday had addressed reports that he might be replaced by saying that only one person — Mr. Zelensky — can decide if he stays.
“No official remains in office forever. No one,” Mr. Reznikov said during a news conference. He added, “I will do what the head of state suggests to me.”
In an interview published by ICTV, a Ukrainian TV channel, he also said the news that he would be transferred to another ministry had been a surprise, and that he would refuse it because he did not have the expertise.
The expected shake-up at the top of Ukraine’s military establishment comes as Kyiv’s troops are under increasing pressure in the east, with fighting particularly fierce around the city of Bakhmut.
A Russian paramilitary leader said Ukrainian forces there were defending “every street, every house, every stairwell,” as they waged an increasingly desperate effort to deny Moscow its first significant battlefield success in months.
The State of the War
- On the Ground: In the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut, Ukrainian forces are waging a desperate effort to deny Russia its first significant battlefield success in months. Meanwhile, Moscow is pushing to take the strategic town of Vuhledar, which sits near a vital rail link between the southern and eastern fronts.
- E.U. Visit to Kyiv: European Union leaders met with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and vowed to continue supporting his country as it fights for survival. But they withheld a prize Mr. Zelensky dearly wants: accelerated E.U. membership.
- Nuclear Fears Abate: U.S. policymakers and intelligence analysts are less worried about Russia using nuclear weapons in the war. But the threat could re-emerge, they say.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner private military company, whose forces have helped lead Russia’s brutal campaign in Bakhmut, said that Ukrainian troops were “fighting to the last,” denying reports on social media that Kyiv’s forces were withdrawing from the key city in the eastern Donetsk region.
“The Armed Forces of Ukraine are not retreating anywhere,” Mr. Prigozhin said in a statement posted by one of his companies on Telegram, the social messaging app.
As Russia pours more troops into the battle in eastern Ukraine, its Defense Ministry claimed on Sunday that “offensive operations” had helped its forces gain “more advantageous lines and positions” around Donetsk. But there were growing signs that the bitter fighting was exacting an enormous toll on both sides.
Mr. Reznikov told the news conference on Sunday that 500 Russian soldiers were being killed or wounded daily in their drive to take Bakhmut. Ukraine’s losses were significantly fewer, he added, without offering details.
It was not possible to independently verify either side’s account of the fighting. But Mr. Reznikov’s tally roughly matched that of American officials, who believe hundreds of Russian soldiers are being killed or injured every day as the Kremlin rushes many more men — including lightly trained new recruits and ex-convicts — to the front line. Ukrainian forces have at times suffered similar losses in Bakhmut, U.S. officials say.
Mr. Reznikov acknowledged that the intense fighting was taking a toll on Ukrainian soldiers on the front line and that keeping up morale after a year of war was a “very serious challenge.”
“People are under crazy stress day and night,” he said.
Since last summer the Kremlin’s forces have bombarded Bakhmut, a city that Moscow sees as critical to achieving Mr. Putin’s objective of capturing all of Donbas, which includes Donetsk and the neighboring Luhansk region. Ukraine has warned that Russia could be starting a renewed offensive in the east as its troops seek to give Mr. Putin a victory to mark the anniversary of his invasion, on Feb. 24.
Mr. Zelensky warned in his nightly address on Sunday that Russia wanted to do something “symbolic” this month, to “try to avenge their last year’s defeats.”
After losing significant ground to Ukrainian counter attacks last fall, Russia has escalated its campaign in the east, bringing in more troops and intensifying its artillery strikes. Russian forces have slowly surrounded Bakhmut on three sides and cut off many of the roads leading into and out of the city. That has left Ukrainian forces with one road as their last major supply line — or potential escape route.
“Bakhmut is increasingly isolated,” Britain’s defense intelligence agency reported on Sunday.
Mr. Zelensky acknowledged on Sunday night that Ukraine was under increased pressure across the front line, and said conditions in Donetsk were “very difficult.”
“There are fierce battles,” he said.
Mr. Reznikov said that as more Russian troops arrived on the front in recent weeks — many likely drawn from Mr. Putin’s recent call-up of 300,000 reservists — Russia’s forces have changed their tactics, attempting to overwhelm Ukrainian defensive lines by deploying wave upon wave of small assault groups.
Ukraine also has a large military presence in the region around Bakhmut, with large troop transports and armored vehicles crowding the roads as the Ukrainian forces mount a defense that has forced Russia to commit significant resources to the fighting.
“The situation remains complex but under control,” Mr. Reznikov said. He described Bakhmut as a fortress that holds great symbolism for Ukraine, and said that any decision on a tactical withdrawal would be made by military generals.
But some Ukrainian soldiers deployed there are increasingly pessimistic about the fate of the city. They are killing Russians, one soldier recently told The New York Times, but not fast enough.
Mr. Reznikov also said that Moscow remained intent on expanding the territory it controlled in southern Ukraine to tighten its grip on Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula it illegally captured in 2014, and was focusing its troop buildup on the east and south.
But he said that Ukraine had not seen signs that Russia was preparing to mount a new campaign aimed at the northeast, where Moscow’s troops were driven out amid a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive in the fall. Nor did Ukraine believe Moscow had enough combat troops in neighboring Belarus, which it used as a staging ground for its invasion last year, to launch a serious assault against Kyiv, the capital, he added.
Western allies are rushing battle tanks, armored vehicles and other advanced weapons to help Ukraine, although many are not expected to arrive for months. Ukrainian soldiers on Monday were expected to begin training outside the country on German-made Leopard tanks, dozens of which were pledged by allies last month.
“Giving the Ukrainians the tools they need to finish the job is the swiftest — indeed the only — path to peace,” Britain’s foreign secretary, James Cleverly, wrote in an op-ed published on Sunday in Times of Malta.
The United States last week announced a new $2.2 billion aid package for Ukraine that, for the first time, includes funding for a rocket-boosted weapon with a range of up to 93 miles. The weapon would allow Ukrainian forces to “take back their sovereign territory in Russian-occupied areas,” a Pentagon spokesman, Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, said.
As the war has ground on, the Biden administration and some allies have gradually eased their opposition to providing Ukraine with long-range weapons. Mr. Reznikov emphasized on Sunday that as part of its negotiations with allies over arms, Ukraine has promised that any weapons it receives would not be used to strike targets within Russia’s internationally recognized borders.
Marc Santora reported from Kyiv, Ukraine, and Shashank Bengali and Cassandra Vinograd from London. Michael Schwirtz and Thomas Gibbons-Neff contributed reporting.
