KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned Tuesday (Jul 21) that he was dismissing Oleksandr Syrsky, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s military, amid an ongoing political disaster triggered by the elimination of a preferred defence minister.
The Ukrainian chief introduced he was appointing joint forces commander Mykhailo Drapaty in his place.
Syrsky, 60, had served within the function since 2024 and was amongst Kyiv’s most skilled commanders, having led the defence of Kyiv at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
His elimination comes after days of protests in assist of ousted defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who accused Syrsky of forcing him out and stalling his try and reform the army.
“I’ve determined that the brand new Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine shall be Mykhailo Drapaty,” Zelenskyy mentioned in a publish on Telegram.
“I’m grateful to Oleksandr Syrsky and to every of our warriors for Ukraine’s robust front-line positions.”
Questions over Syrsky’s future got here to the fore final week, when Zelenskyy eliminated highly-popular defence minister Fedorov simply six months after appointing him.
Fedorov, a tech-savvy 35-year-old whose efforts to modernise the military introduced him into battle with its management, accused Syrsky of blocking his concepts and pressuring Zelenskyy to take away him – a cost Syrsky denied.
Ukrainian media had lengthy reported ructions between the 2.
