The new Ukrainian commander-in-chief Syrskyj can demonstrate successes in the almost two-year war: These include the defense of Kiev and the counteroffensive around Kharkiv. Will he succeed in leading the army to victories again?
He faces a mammoth task: The new Ukrainian commander-in-chief, Olexander Syrskyj, has to get the army’s growing problems under control in the middle of the war against the Russian invaders. There is still a lack of ammunition despite Western arms support – and the mobilization of recruits is stalling, morale in the troops is suffering due to the lack of success.
Immediately after his appointment, the 58-year-old said he wanted to expand the use of unmanned weapon systems and electronic warfare. This was a building block for a victory in the liberation struggle, the colonel general wrote in the Telegram news channel.
“Only the change and constant improvement of the means and methods of warfare will enable us to successfully follow this path.” He described the rapid and precise supply of the troops at the front with the foreign armaments delivered as equally important.
Syrskyj advocates rotation of troops
“The life and health of soldiers have been and remain the most important value of the Ukrainian army,” Syrskyj continued. He advocates a rotation of troops between combat operations and periods of rest and training. A balance must be found for this. The exchange of exhausted front-line troops and the mobilization of new soldiers is currently being hotly debated in Ukraine.
A bill is in parliament. The mobilization was a point on which President Volodymyr Zelensky did not reach agreement with former commander-in-chief Valery Zalushny, who was fired on Thursday.
According to military experts, there has long been a direct line between Syrsky and Zelensky – even bypassing Saluschny. For experts, Syrskyj’s appointment was no surprise; few in the Ukrainian military have comparable experience.
As Ukraine’s new commander-in-chief, Olexander Syrskyj (left) must find a strategy to lead the army to victories again.
Defender of Kyiv
Syrsky is credited with organizing the defense of Kiev in February 2022. He also led the counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region in September 2022, which allowed Ukraine to recapture the cities of Kupyansk and Izyum from Russian troops. He also commanded the sustained defense of the city of Bakhmut until spring 2023. It inflicted heavy losses on the Russians, but also came at the price of high Ukrainian casualties.
Syrskyj still went through Soviet training; he received his officer training in Moscow. The colonel general is ethnic Russian, he was born in the Vladimir region of Russia and has lived in what is now Ukraine since 1980.
The list of his achievements is long. He was a commander in the defense against the Russian occupation of eastern Ukraine from 2014, disguised as a separatist movement. The married father of one son has been in command of Ukraine’s land forces since 2019.
With information from dpa and AP