The newly appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, made his first statement after his appointment on Thursday, Feb. 9.
Syrsky said his forces would need to evolve and be prepared to alter how they fight Russian troops to win the war.
The 59-year-old’s appointment this week was the biggest shake-up of Ukraine’s military leadership since the beginning of Russia's fully-fledged invasion nearly two years ago.
Despite successes on the battlefield, Syrsky is not a national icon like his predecessor, Valery Zaluzhny, and he has earned a reputation for being indifferent to military casualties.
He appeared to address this characterization in his statement, saying: “The lives and well-being of our servicemen have always been and remain the main asset of the Ukrainian army.”
At the same time, Syrsky highlighted several tasks facing Ukraine today, including:
- Clear and detailed planning of actions of all military command, associations, formations and units, taking into account the needs of the frontline for the latest weapons supplied by allies;
- the fastest and most rational distribution of everything necessary for combat operations remains the main task of military logistics;
- knowing all the needs of the frontline and being aware of the situation in each of its areas;
- the life and health of servicemen has always been and remains the main value of the Ukrainian army;
- Implementing new technical solutions and scaling up successful experience.
“Only changes and continuous improvement of the means and methods of warfare will make it possible to succeed on this path,” the Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief wrote in Telegram.
“And, of course, a reliable rear is one of the main components of overall success in the war,” he added.
On Feb. 8, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed 58-year-old Russian-born Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky as the new Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), replacing 50-year-old Valeriy Zaluzhny who was dismissed.
ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 27, 2024
Before his promotion, Oleksandr Syrsky served as the Commander of the Ground Forces of the AFU.
Kyiv Post wrote more about the new Commander-in-Chief Syrsky here.
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Comments (4)
I agree completely with Syrsky.
Ukraine has to adapt its strategy. There is nothing wrong with what Zaluzhny has acheived but now the Russians have gotten used to it. Being predictable is bad on a battlefield.
It will take the orcs six months to learn Syrsky's style, during which time anything could happen and they will not know how he is going to act. It's introducing the element of surprise back into the equation when it is needed most.
Now Russia will have to rethink its entire defense and they have shown zero experience at planning, the serious generals are all retired, dead or replaced by Putin's choice.
Some of you declare Syrsky's Russian heritage as a weakness, look further down the road, it is in fact a strength.
The Ukrainians are evolving at warp speed. I remember the first few days of the war and thy were using Molotov cocktails . Fast forward a few weeks and they were using the newly donated "St. Javelins" and the Bayraktar drones like seasoned pros to almost stop russia in its tracks. With better weapons they had them on the run. Given them gimped down missiles and they take out key russian weapon stockpiles and command centres like it was a simple carnival shooting game. Send them a a few decades old air defence systems and they instantly start taking out with near 100% success russian missile attacks including the purportedly unstoppable russian 'hypersonic' missiles. What a strategic blunder on the allies part, that we did not give them superior western fighter jets sooner.
They are becoming masters at inventing new high tech weaponry (air and sea drones particularly) .
Yes the Ukrainians can certainly evolve.
Now if only our allied governments would start taking the new threats to our democracy's more seriously. Decades after putin commenced his hybrid war against us we still can't seem to stop his election meddling and dissent sowing antics. Our institutes are still bribed by criminal state funded malware attacks. Plus we never seem to punish the regimes creating / funnelling costly refugee streams to our borders.
Win the hearts and minds of soldiers and people to win the war. Dont sacrifice your best soldiers, they are all too rare. Learn the lessons of Bakhmut and Napoleon, they were bad mistakes where good troops were lost.
General Zaluzhny reportedly recommending General Syrsky as his replacement. Enough said. During the American Civil War several commanding Generals of the union army were replaced. Then finally, President Lincoln chose a virtual unknown general to take command named Ulysses S. Grant and eventually they were victorious. Grant later became President.