BERLIN: Germany’s new defence minister Boris Pistorius has replaced the head of the armed forces, sources said on Monday, following controversial comments last year about the strength of the Russian military.

Officials at the defence ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that General Eberhard Zorn would be succeeded by Major General Carsten Breuer.

Zorn, 63, had held the position since 2018. He had drawn fire last September with an interview in which he appeared to doubt the capability of the Ukrainian military to counter Russian forces.

He told Focus magazine that Ukraine was mounting “counter-attacks, with which one can win back places or individual areas of the frontlines, but not push Russia back over a broad front”.