And maybe commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi IS the best person for that role at this time, given the desperation of the situation and bleak prospects for improving upon it anytime soon or ever.
The Russian listened and built 3 lines of defensive fortifications plus a forward buffer zone (called the gray zone). Guess what, the Ukrainians never even made it to the First line of defense. The highly mobile gray zone Russian troops contained them like a worm in a tin can.