General who failed to defend Artemivsk: Zelensky appointed Syrsky as the new Chief Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced the appointment of Alexander Syrsky, the commander of the Ground Forces, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Zelensky made this announcement in his Telegram channel.

“Today, a new management team is taking over the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. I want the vision of the war to be unified, both among our soldiers in Rabitne or Avdiivka, and in the General Staff and the High Command. I have had dozens of conversations with commanders of various levels. In particular, today I spoke with generals Andriy Hnatov, Mykhailo Drapatyi, Ihor Skybyuk, and colonels Pavlo Palisa and Vadym Sukharevsky. All of them are being considered for leadership positions in the army and will serve under the guidance of the most experienced Ukrainian commander. I have appointed Lieutenant General Syrsky as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Today, I also spoke with Generals Moysiuk and Zabrodsky (two deputies to Zaluzhny). Their experience is in service to the state,” said Zelensky.

As media outlets recall, General Syrsky initially commanded the defense of the city of Artemivsk, and then led a counteroffensive near Artemivsk, both of which were ultimately unsuccessful, resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of lives.

Alexander Syrsky, the new Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, was born on July 26, 1965, in the village of Novinki, Kirzhachsky district of the Vladimir region (now – Russian Federation).

He graduated from the Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School.

He began his service in 1986 in the Soviet Army as a commander of a motorized rifle platoon.

During the war in Donbas, he served as the chief of staff of the Anti-Terrorist Operation forces. He was involved in the command of the defense of Debaltseve in 2015, which resulted in the loss of the city.

By the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, he was the commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He led successful operations for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, including the defense of Kyiv and the offensive in the Kharkiv region in the fall of 2022. After the offensive in Kharkiv, he was talked about as a possible replacement for Zaluzhny, about whom there were already reports of tensions with the Presidential Office at that time.

In 2023, Syrsky commanded much less successful battles for Bahmut, during which the Russians managed to capture the city and its surroundings. The counteroffensive launched by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in May 2023 did not lead to significant successes and practically stalled in December (now the Russians are advancing there). The dispersion of Ukrainian forces to Bahmut in Western media is cited as one of the reasons for the failure of the Ukrainian offensive in the south.

Recall that earlier, Zelensky thanked Zaluzhny for his two years of service.

As Ukrainian media reported, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision to dismiss Chief of the General Staff Valeriy Zaluzhny was preceded by the presentation of the results of a closed sociological study, according to which, firstly, the percentage of Ukrainians advocating for the earliest possible end to the war, albeit through compromises with Russia, is increasing, and secondly, the ratings of the authorities and the president are declining while Zaluzhny’s ratings and those of his yet-to-be-established party are simultaneously rising.