Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fired Soviet-trained army chief Alexander Silsky on Tuesday, following a political crisis over the ouster of a popular, young and tech-savvy defense minister.
Ukrainian leaders announced the appointment of Joint Forces Commander Mykhaylo Draupati to replace him.
Shirsky, 60, who has held the position since 2024, is one of Kiev’s most experienced commanders and led Kiev’s defense when a full-scale Russian invasion began in 2022.
His removal follows days of protests in support of ousted Defense Minister Mikhailo Fedorov, who accuses Silsky of forcing him to step down and stalling his attempts to reform the military.
Zelensky posted on Telegram: “I have decided that Mykhaylo Draupati will become the new commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
“I thank Oleksandr Syrsky and every one of our fighters for their strong positions on the Ukrainian front.”
Questions about Silsky’s future came into focus last week after Zelensky fired the popular Defense Minister Fedorov six months after appointing him.
Fedorov, 35, who has clashed with the military leadership over his efforts to modernize the army, has accused Silsky of blocking his ideas and pressuring Zelensky to replace him, a charge Silsky denies.
The row exposed rare divisions within Ukraine’s military and political leadership at a time when Kyiv appeared to be in the best position to fight the war for months.
Ukrainian forces have slowed Russia’s advance in recent months, while Ukrainian long-range strikes have targeted Russian oil refineries that Kiev says fueled the invasion.
-“New Hope”-
Draupadi, the new army chief, is a decorated major general who commanded Ukrainian ground forces and fought against Moscow-backed separatists during the war in Donbass.
He became famous in Ukraine for a video purportedly showing him driving an armored vehicle through a separatist checkpoint in the city of Mariupol during a 2014 skirmish between pro-Russian militias and government forces.
The 43-year-old thanked Zelensky for his appointment in a Facebook post.
“It has always been an honor to serve Ukraine, and during the war of independence it meant absolute responsibility,” he said.
“Glory belongs to the country. Death belongs to the enemy,” he said.
Fedorov welcomed Draupadi’s appointment, saying it injected “new hope” into the fight against Russia.
“This is a breath of fresh air and new hope for free people in their struggle for freedom and justice,” he said on social media.
Fedorov was ousted last Wednesday, sparking protests across Ukraine by thousands of people, many of whom expressed frustration at the lack of reforms in the military and called for Sirsky’s ouster.
For a time, Zelensky was seen as distrustful of those with political ambitions and eased pressure to fire Shirsky, a career soldier.
Analysts told AFP that Sirsky did not pose a threat to Zelensky, unlike his predecessor, the hugely popular Valery Zaluzhny, who was also ousted.
But Silski has been criticized for not caring about the scale of human losses and delaying reforms in procurement, equipment and mobilization.
Draupadi becomes Ukraine’s third commander-in-chief since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
Both Russia and Ukraine have been escalating air strikes in recent months, with the United Nations reporting a surge in civilian deaths in Ukraine in recent months.
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This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.
