By Dan Peleschuk and Yuliia Dysa
KYIV, Aug 26 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has appointed two of Ukraine's most prominent commanders to oversee the defence of the country's eastern strongholds, as Kyiv struggles to beat back a Russian onslaught on a region at the centre of stalled peace talks.
Moscow's troops are grinding towards the so-called fortress belt of industrialised cities in the Donetsk region, which the Kremlin has demanded that Ukraine give up before it ends its war.
Visiting the front line with his new top general, Zelenskiy said Third Army Corps leader Andrii Biletskyi and Denys Prokopenko, commander of the First Corps Azov, will head new groupings aimed at strengthening defences around Donetsk.
Both men represent a new generation of experienced field commanders and currently lead what are seen as some of Kyiv's most capable and best-trained forces. Both their corps are already involved in defending that part of the front, and the commanders have been praised for their combat efficiency and planning.
MOUNTING PRESSURE IN EAST
The announcement comes as Ukrainian troops face mixed success along the 1,200-km front line, where they began seizing back the initiative earlier this year.
They liberated several-dozen settlements this year during a several-stage operation in a southeastern sector, clawing back more than 700 sq. km. of territory, Zelenskiy said.
But Russian forces are also bearing down on the cities of Kostiantynivka, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk - all critical strongholds for Ukraine, which has dismissed Kremlin demands that it cede the region to end the more than four-year war.
Moscow's troops are infiltrating deeper into Kostiantynivka, where the Ukrainians are being forced to weed them out from houses, basements and ruins, according to open-source mapping group Deep State.
Russia is also stepping up its air and artillery attacks on Kramatorsk and Sloviansk - where its forces are just 13 km away - to prepare for a targeted offensive on those cities, the group added.
RESPECTED COMMANDERS
Ukrainian military analyst Mykola Bielieskov said the appointment of Biletskyi and Prokopenko - both of whom have been at war since Russia's first invasion in 2014 - was intended to give the new top commander Mykhailo Drapatyi greater scope for strategic planning.
His predecessor, Oleksandr Syrskyi, had been criticised for micromanaging even smaller sectors of the front.
"In other words, this is the right move," said Bielieskov.
Biletskyi, a prominent right-wing political leader, founded Ukraine's Azov Battalion in 2014 to fight Russian-backed separatists. He later established the Third Army Corps as one of Ukraine's most sought-after units for new recruits.
Prokopenko commanded Azov through Moscow's siege of Mariupol and the Azovstal steel plant, and after his return from captivity in Russia, he helped build it into a force of tens of thousands.
Both units are known for embracing NATO-style doctrine and new technology.
Ukrainian drone forces commander Robert Brovdi, a leader of Kyiv's mid- and long-range strike campaigns, praised the appointment as an important step towards "network-centric warfare".
"This is exactly what 'Smart War' is," he wrote on social media.
(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa and Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Hugh Lawson)
