Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday (Feb 8) appointed Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi as the new chief of the army. Colonel General Syrskyi replaced General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, who had clashed with Zelensky over a range of issues. Syrskyi, 58, has been the commander of the country’s ground forces and has become the army chief at a challenging time. 

The war between Russia and Ukraine will soon enter its third year. The choice of Syrskyi as the army chief did not come as a surprise, as very few in the Ukrainian military have the experience and know-how to be able to fill the shoes of General Zaluzhnyi, a report by the news agency Associated Press said.

Who is Oleksandr Syrskyi?

Syrskyi was born in 1965 in the Soviet Union. Like many people of his age in Ukraine’s armed forces, he studied in Moscow – at the Higher Military Command School – among peers who have since become Russian commanders.

Syrskyi served in the Soviet Artillery Corps for five years and has lived in Ukraine since the 1980s. The 58-year-old’s battlefield successes have earned him the backing of his soldiers, the report said.

A key player in Ukraine’s response against Russia

Syrskyi has played a key role in some of Ukraine’s biggest victories against Russia since the conflict started on Feb 24, 2022. He oversaw the successful defence of the capital Kyiv in the early days of the invasion when many in Ukraine still rejected Western warnings that a Russian attack seemed imminent. 

Syrskyi was conferred with the Hero of Ukraine award, the country’s highest honour, for his role in repelling Moscow’s advance on the capital. In Sept 2022, he was credited with orchestrating the counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region, which has been one of the most significant victories in the war. 

He also led the Bakhmut operation which has been the war’s longest and bloodiest fight and which has been criticized because of the high losses suffered by Ukrainian forces.  

In the 2014 war when Russia annexed Crimea, Syrskyi was the ground commander for operations in eastern Ukraine and played an important role in the conflict.

‘He is a traitor’

Reacting to Syrskyi’s appointment, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev accused Syrskyi, who did not serve in post-Soviet Russia’s army, of breaking his oath as an officer. 

Medvedev, who is currently deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said on Telegram, “Looking at the biography of the new commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces Syrskyi one feels a sense of hatred, contempt and disgust.”

“Disgust for a man who was a Soviet Russian officer, but became a Bandera traitor, who broke his oath and serves the Nazis, destroying his loved ones. May the earth burn under his feet!” he added.

Bandera here is a reference to Stepan Bandera, a World War Two-era Ukrainian nationalist who collaborated with Nazi Germany to fight against the Red Army. Bandera is regarded as a freedom fighter by some Ukrainians but as a traitor by many Russians.