ReutersOleksandr Syrsky
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 12:56
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Chiem Balduk
Foreign Editor
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Chiem Balduk
Foreign Editor
Ukrainian President Zelensky sounded firm: it is time for a new approach to the army. “Old-fashioned warfare will no longer work in 2024,” added his Deputy Prime Minister Fedorov. And that is why the country’s most important soldier, Zaluzhny, has to make way for another: Oleksandr Syrsky, the current commander of the land forces. Who is he?
In short: a seasoned soldier who played a key role in the Ukrainian defense against Russia and is also very loyal to Zelensky. He is loved by part of the army because of his successes on the battlefield, but perhaps an equally large part is extremely critical of him because of the sacrifice of soldiers in recent battles.
From Russia to Ukraine
Ironically, Syrsky grew up in the heart of Russia, in the Vladimir region, east of Moscow, and learned the tricks of the military trade at an elite military academy in Moscow. In Central Asia he served side by side with the Russians during the Soviet era. Syrsky uses his origins to claim that he knows better than anyone else how the enemy thinks.
Russian state media see it as proof that Russians and Ukrainians are actually a united people. Naturally, he cannot count on Moscow’s respect: former President Medvedev says that when reading Syrsky’s biography of the “traitor” he experienced ‘a feeling of hatred, contempt and disgust’. “Let the earth burn beneath him!”
As a Soviet commander, he ended up in the Ukrainian region of Poltava, where he remained after the collapse of the Soviet Union. There he gradually rose through the ranks in the Ukrainian army, eventually becoming the man who led the battle for Debaltseve (Donetsk region) in 2015. This battle, which ended in Ukrainian withdrawal, is etched in the memory of every Ukrainian. The defeat was the last major clash before the conclusion of the Minsk agreements initiated a ceasefire.
Kyiv, Kharkiv and Bachmoet
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Syrsky had already been the supreme leader of the ground forces for three years. The rescue of the capital Kyiv, including by crossing a dam, is largely attributed to him. He didn’t sleep for three days, a direct employee of Syrsky said earlierthus preventing the Russians from winning the war in three days.
Six months later, Syrsky also scored the second major success of the Ukrainians: the counter-offensive in the Kharkiv region. In a risky but unexpected operation, Ukrainian soldiers led by Syrsky managed to break through Russian lines and liberate almost the entire northeastern region. According to Zelensky biographer Simon Shuster, Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhny wanted to move south, but Zelensky decided to give Syrsky’s plan priority.
AFPSyrsky (R) and Zelensky discuss defense plans in the Kupyansk region (November 2023)
There are not only successes associated with Syrsky’s name. Bachmut’s months-long, exhausting defense led to heavy casualties. It earned him nicknames such as ‘the butcher’; a fact that is widely reported in Russian state media. Military analysts see the loss of experienced Ukrainian troops in Bachmut as one of the reasons why the 2023 Ukrainian counter-offensive has not led to major successes.
Changes at the front
Ukrainian soldiers have varied reactions to the reshuffle of the army leadership. Critics do not see what Syrsky could achieve that his predecessor, the widely appreciated Zaluzhny, could not. “We have a handful of top commanders who work together and want and can do more or less the same thing,” says soldier Aleksander, who served in Bachmut, among other places. He hopes that the shake up does not lead to unrest at the front.
It is clear that Syrsky is more in line with Zelensky than his predecessor Zaluzhny. While Zaluzhny openly disagreed with the president, Syrsky thinks the same about military tactics and strategies, for example about defending encircled places like Bachmut and Avdiivka to the utmost.
“I think that is the only reason why the Commander of the Armed Forces was replaced,” says soldier Aleksandr cynically. “The president wants a general he can control.” Opposition politician Honcharenko say put it this way: “For Zelensky, Syrsky’s most important characteristic is that he has no political ambitions.”
Action plan
Syrsky has been asked to present an action plan for 2024 within a few days. The question is whether Syrsky, as he showed around Kyiv and Kharkiv, can ensure a resounding victory with a smaller but more effective army than the Russians. And this against the background of declining Western support, growing shortages and discussion within Ukraine about mobilization.
In his first speech, today at Telegram, Syrsky emphasizes technological developments and the improvement of military logistics. At the front, it will become clear in the coming months whether he can indeed bring the change hoped for in Kyiv.
2024-02-09 11:56:22
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