Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Tuesday that he was removing Army Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky from his post.
“I have decided that the new Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be Mykhailo Drupaty… I am grateful to Oleksandr Sirsky and each of our warriors for Ukraine’s strong front-line position,” Zelensky said in a post on Telegram.
Why did Zelensky fire his commander-in-chief?
The move comes as Zelensky faces growing criticism over last week’s dismissal of Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.
After his dismissal, Fedorov, 35, made public his conflict with Sirsky. Their dispute was primarily over disagreement about the direction of Ukraine’s war effort against Russia’s ongoing invasion.
Fedorov’s removal sparked mass protests, with several thousand people, mostly youth, demonstrating in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, and other cities.
They demanded that Sirsky be removed and Fedorov reinstated.
Zelensky, who initially sided with Syrsky, finally bowed to public pressure on Tuesday after several days of meetings with dozens of Ukraine’s top military figures.
Who is dismissed Ukrainian general Oleksandr Syrsky?
Syrsky, 60, was born in Russia and trained in Moscow during the Soviet era.
He led some of Ukraine’s most decisive operations, including stopping Russia’s initial advance toward Kiev in 2022 and leading Ukraine’s offensive at Kursk, Russia in 2024.
But the military veteran had clashed with reformers on a number of issues, including the use of drones and technology.
His dismissal caps a dramatic week in Ukrainian politics, with Zelensky leading a leadership reshuffle that has sparked some of the largest protests in the country since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in 2022.
This is a developing story, more details to come…
Edited by: Wesley Dockery