Zelenskyy overhauls leadership of Territorial Defense Forces, appoints new commander

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Ihor Tantsyura from the post of commander of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and appointed Anatoliy Barhylevych in his place, according to decrees No. 678 and No. 679.

Major General Anatoliy Barhylevych was previously the commander of the territorial defense of the Ground Forces Command, and since 2022 he had been the chief of staff of the Eastern Troop Grouping. Before that, from 2020, he was the deputy commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine responsible for Territorial Defense.

He was awarded the Order of Danylo Halytskyi for his personal contribution to strengthening the defense capabilities of the Ukrainian state, courage, dedication and high professionalism, demonstrated during the performance of military duty, and on the occasion of the Day of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (2016).

Major General Ihor Tantsyura held the position of commander of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from May 15, 2022. Previously, he was the chief of staff of the Ground Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

This is already the second rotation of the commander of the Territorial Defense Forces during the period of full-scale war. On May 15, 2022, Tantsyura was appointed to replace Yuriy Halushkin, who was the commander of the Territorial Defense Forces since their creation.

On February 26, 2023, Zelenskyy dismissed Eduard Moskalyov from the post of commander of the joint forces.

On September 16, Lieutenant Colonel Oleksandr Sak was removed from command of the "Magura" 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade. Now it is headed by Colonel Oleksandr Pavliy.