{"id":48104,"date":"2026-07-03T00:26:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T00:26:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2026\/07\/03\/kyiv-military-chief-salutes-outgoing-us-army-commander-as-war-rages-in-ukraine\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T14:09:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T14:09:48","slug":"kyiv-military-chief-salutes-outgoing-us-army-commander-as-war-rages-in-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2026\/07\/03\/kyiv-military-chief-salutes-outgoing-us-army-commander-as-war-rages-in-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyiv military chief salutes outgoing US Army commander as war rages in Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KYIV, Ukraine \u2014 Ukraine\u2019s top general has publicly thanked the departing head of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, Gen. Christopher Donahue<\/a>, for helping build and sustain Washington\u2019s support pipeline to Kyiv<\/a> as the officer relinquished his post on Thursday after an unexpectedly brief 18 months in command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Word broke June 23 that the four-star general had submitted his retirement papers<\/a> after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth personally requested that he resign, according to multiple reports. The Army has yet to provide a definitive reason for the change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donahue\u2019s predecessor, Gen. Darryl Williams, held the post for nearly two and a half years. Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie, Donahue\u2019s deputy, took over in an acting capacity Thursday after a farewell ceremony at the Clay Kaserne headquarters in Wiesbaden, Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within days of the news, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine\u2019s commander-in-chief, held a phone call with Donahue and published a farewell on his personal social media accounts, thanking the outgoing official for creating a partnership that he said delivered long-range systems, strengthened Ukraine\u2019s air defenses and saved thousands of Ukrainian lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two military leaders have worked together since the first days of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion, when Syrskyi, then chief of Ukraine\u2019s Ground Forces, directed the defense of Kyiv and Donahue led the 82nd Airborne Division into southeastern Poland. Their partnership has only strengthened over the years, Syrskyi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the most challenging moments of our war for freedom and independence, Chris Donahue has proven himself not only as a military leader but also as a man of his word and honor,\u201d Syrskyi wrote on Telegram<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUkrainian warriors will always hold General Donahue in the highest esteem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi attends a meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, February 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service via Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The farewell, meanwhile, lands at a fraught moment in U.S.-Ukraine relations. The Trump administration has questioned the value of Kyiv\u2019s fight in the past, even as the U.S. military incorporates more Ukrainian battlefield know-how amid its war with Iran. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, the American general who built the Army\u2019s support machinery for Ukraine is out, and Syrskyi\u2019s public tribute shows Kyiv knows what it stands to lose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to two U.S. officials cited by CBS News<\/a>, Donahue \u201chad earned the ire\u201d of Hegseth, and the two men met in person only once, in February 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked about accusations that Hegseth forced the general out over a personal grudge, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell provided no explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGeneral officers and flag officers serve at the pleasure of the president and the secretary of war,\u201d Parnell told the Daily Beast<\/a> on Sunday. \u201cThey always have and always will.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The departure extends a shake-up<\/a> that has removed or replaced at least a dozen senior military leaders since Hegseth took office, with many of the moves made without public explanation<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. President Donald Trump praised Donahue in January, when Fox News host Brian Kilmeade visited the general\u2019s Wiesbaden headquarters and put Donahue on the phone with the president as his soldiers gathered around, according to Stars and Stripes<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re doing a fantastic job,\u201d Trump said. \u201cYour reputation is great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine is among those seeking a presidential waiver so Donahue can retire at four stars, a rank he has held for fewer than the three years federal law requires to retire at that grade, two sources told CBS News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wiesbaden headquarters itself is officially being downgraded to a three-star command, part of Hegseth\u2019s push to cut the number of four-star billets, Stars and Stripes reported. U.S. Air Forces in Europe lost its fourth star in a similar move last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donahue has said nothing publicly about the circumstances of his exit, and the subject went unmentioned at Thursday\u2019s ceremony. He thanked his troops in his farewell remarks, instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love this team \u2014 it has been the honor of a lifetime to be a part of it. I\u2019m proud of what we built and I have absolute confidence in what you will build next,\u201d Donahue said, according to an Army release<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donahue was promoted to four stars in December 2024, when he took over U.S. Army Europe and Africa and, with it, command of NATO\u2019s Allied Land Command in Izmir, Turkey. The combined headquarters developed the Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative, a warfighting concept that integrates allied land forces, drones and data under NATO\u2019s defense plans for its eastern flank, according to the Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donahue \u201csaw the need to change, developed a plan, inspired others and built the processes to ensure it endures well beyond his tenure \u2014 and allies have bought in,\u201d Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, NATO\u2019s supreme allied commander Europe, said at the ceremony, according to the Army release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donahue was also the last American soldier to leave Afghanistan, photographed in night vision boarding the final C-17 out of Kabul in August 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brett McGurk, who served as special presidential envoy to the coalition against the Islamic State, told CBS News that Donahue is \u201camong the most consequential commanders of his generation,\u201d and retired Gen. Tony Thomas, a former head of U.S. Special Operations Command, called him a \u201cgenerational leader.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ouster has drawn criticism from retired military leaders and lawmakers across the aisle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cdecision to force [Donahue] out says far more about Hegseth than it does about General Donahue,\u201d Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., wrote in a post<\/a> on X last week, calling the move \u201cyet another unforced error from a Secretary leading the Pentagon with bro-culture bravado rather than restraint, humility and careful stewardship of the finest fighting force in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, a former commander of U.S. Army Europe, called Donahue the \u201cbest soldier in the Army today\u201d in his own post<\/a>. \u201cKremlin and terrorist organizations will be relieved to know that he will soon be gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

European officials fear the exit foreshadows a U.S. drawdown from the roughly 80,000 American troops on the continent, Newsweek<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The news came out just days after Hegseth criticized European allies over low defense spending and announced a six-month review of U.S. forces in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retired Adm. William McRaven, who oversaw the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, wrote in The Atlantic<\/a> that the dismissals \u201craise a real risk that senior officers will be overly cautious about providing their best advice and, therefore, that the chance of military miscalculation will grow dramatically.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lt. Gen. Kevin Admiral, who leads the Army\u2019s III Armored Corps, is the frontrunner to permanently replace Donahue in Wiesbaden, a U.S. military official told Newsweek, though no final decision has been made and the nomination would require Senate confirmation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donahue will formally hand the NATO post to its deputy, British Lt. Gen. Jez Bennett, at a July 9 ceremony in Izmir, Turkey. Bennett will serve as acting commander until another American officer is assigned, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe spokesman Col. Martin O\u2019Donnell told CBS News<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donahue closed his farewell remarks with a question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen people ask me, \u2018Hey CD, what was it like to be a part of United States Army Europe and Africa?\u2019 I only have to tell them how proud and unbelievably grateful I am to have been a part of the United States Army\u2019s premier warfighting headquarters.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a farewell message, Syrskyi credited the departing U.S. commander with saving thousands of Ukrainian lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":109998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,46,11,36,19],"tags":[8628],"coauthors":[3480],"class_list":["post-48104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-europe","category-global","category-newsletters","category-pentagon","tag-ukraine"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"HNO6GXLUIFF77HPSXVNFG275QI","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2026\/07\/03\/kyiv-military-chief-salutes-outgoing-us-army-commander-as-war-rages-in-ukraine\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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