Zelenskyy holds second day of talks with frontline corps commanders

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, accompanied by Deputy Head of the President's Office Pavlo Palisa, held meetings with corps commanders for the second day in a row. The commanders included Dmytro Voloshyn (8th Air Assault Corps), Artem Bohomolov (10th Army Corps), Oleksii Maistrenko (11th Army Corps), Yevhen Lasiichuk (7th Air Assault Rapid Response Corps), Sviatoslav Zaiets (20th Army Corps), and Yaroslav Sydorov (17th Army Corps). They discussed the situation on the Sloviansk, Pokrovsk, Oleksandrivka, Kharkiv fronts among others. A key topic was the distribution of personnel among combat brigades.

Zelenskyy stated that troops require more long-range artillery and 155 mm shells. Additional requirements for medium-range strike capabilities were identified, and it was agreed to increase the supply of ground robotic systems. The meeting also covered troop rotations, protection of Ukrainian logistics, strikes against Russian military logistics, and prospects for active defence.

This second day of talks follows a series of meetings amid public protests in Kyiv and other cities on 16-17 July demanding the reinstatement of Mykhailo Fedorov as defence minister and the dismissal of Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi. A third day of protests is planned for 18 July in Kyiv. On 17 July, after the decision to replace the defence minister, Zelenskyy received reports from combat commanders and announced a special meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Staff.