Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced a new appointment on Friday as part of his army restructuring. Major General Anatoly Barhilevych will become the new Chief of the General Staff, the head of state announced in his evening video address.
Barhilevich succeeds Serhiy Shaptala. The appointment took place at the proposal of the new Commander-in-Chief Olexander Syrskyj. Barhilevich is “an experienced person who understands the tasks in this war and Ukraine’s objectives,” Zelensky said.
His speech to listen to:
After weeks of speculation, Zelensky announced the resignation of the previous army chief, Valeri Salushny, on Thursday. The move was expected after Saluzhny publicly criticized the president in November. He justified the change with the failure of the offensive last year.
The replacement of Major General was foreseeable
Saluschnyj is highly respected in the country and also within the military. His successor Syrskyj can boast of the most spectacular successes of the war: the defense of Kiev in the initial phase of Russian aggression and the spectacular counter-offensive in the Kharkiv region in late summer 2022.
Shaptala’s dismissal is not a surprise as he was considered Saluzhny’s confidant. He fueled transfer rumors a few days ago by publishing a photo together on Schaptala’s birthday. “It will be very difficult for us, but no one has anything to be ashamed of,” he wrote about the recording.
New boss, new tactics
Syrskyj wants to expand the use of unmanned weapons systems and electronic warfare to defend against the Russian invasion. This is a building block for a victory in the liberation struggle, the colonel general wrote on Friday in the Telegram news channel. “Only the change and continuous improvement of the means and methods of warfare will enable us to pursue this path successfully.”
He described the rapid and accurate supply of the troops at the front with the foreign weapons supplied as equally important. “The lives and health of soldiers are and will remain the main value of the Ukrainian army,” Syrsky wrote. He advocated rotation of troops between combat operations and periods of rest and training. A balance must be found for this.
High expectations
Expectations from the new commander-in-chief are high. The adviser in the presidential office, Mykhailo Podoljak, said on Ukrainian television that Syrskyj had to take stock because of the million soldiers mobilized for the war; only about 300,000 had been deployed. There must be clarity about who is deployed where. Only then can it be said how many recruits are still needed, Podoljak said.
Many soldiers are therefore far removed from war. It should also be clarified how those who have been in combat operations for almost 24 months can be replaced on a rotating basis.
Source: Krone
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