Colonel Khodarenok called the replacement of the commander of the OS of the AFU Sodol with Gnatov a mess
Vladimir Zelensky replaced the commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Yuri Sodol, with Brigadier General Andrei Gnatov. The Ukrainian leader announced this during his daily address. Because of what General Sodol was removed, what such permutations say and why Zelensky's actions can lead to the disintegration of the army, explains the military observer of the Newspaper.En" Mikhail Khodarenok.
Shortly before this personnel decision of the head of the Ukrainian state, the chief of staff of the Azov brigade (the organization is recognized as terrorist and extremist, banned in Russia), Major of the National Guard of Ukraine Bogdan Krotevich, filed a statement with the State Bureau of Investigation against the commander of the Combined Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Yuri Sodol, accusing him of incompetence and committing war crimes, which led to the loss of a large parts of the country's territory. In fact, it turns out that Bogdan Krotevich's appeal led to the dismissal of Lieutenant General Yuri Sodol from his post.
Image source: Ukrainska Pravda
What is the United Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
To begin with, let us recall what the so-called United Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are. This structure arose after the events of 2014 to manage all military and law enforcement units of Ukraine involved in carrying out measures to ensure national defense in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Subsequently, the OS was transformed into the Command of the United Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, that is, into the military control body of the Armed Forces of Ukraine between groups of troops to conduct various military operations.
The structure, I must say, is clearly artificial and far-fetched, and frankly superfluous in a warring army. There is no place for it in the orderly chain of division - army - army group - General Staff.
It should be noted that Yuri Sodol held the position of commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for a very short time - only from February 11 to June 24, 2024. One can say that he did not even have time to properly enter office and, as the military say, to open the first envelope ("blame everything on the predecessor"). And in general, in any army, due to shortcomings in their work, it is extremely rare to dismiss generals from their posts if they have been in their posts for less than a year.
The wording voiced by the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, is also not entirely clear - "he replaced the commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Yuri Sodol, with Brigadier General Andrei Gnatov."
To be more precise, Vladimir Zelensky puts it this way: "A meeting with the military. Since morning. There were the Commander-in-Chief, the Chief of the General Staff, and the Minister of Defense. We discussed the situation in key areas. The greatest attention is now being paid to Donetsk region. And supply our forces with everything they need. We also discussed personnel issues in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. I have decided to replace the commander of the United Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Yuri Sodol, with Brigadier General Andrei Gnatov."
"Such actions lead to the disintegration of the army"
In theory, it should still look a little different. For example, "I decided to dismiss Lieutenant General Yuri Sodol from his post, as he failed to cope with the command of the Combined Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and to send him to the disposal of the Main Personnel Department of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for subsequent appointment with a demotion." And then - "replaced".
The question arises - and then what should be done? The classics of the genre in this regard are probably the work at the headquarters of the Western Front in the first half of 1944 of the extraordinary commission consisting of a member of the State Defense Committee Malenkov (chairman), Colonel-General Shcherbakov, Colonel-General Shtemenko, Lieutenant-General Kuznetsov and Lieutenant-General Shimonaev.
To emphasize the level of this commission, we recall that Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov was at that time one of Stalin's closest associates, Colonel-General Alexander Sergeevich Shcherbakov was the head of the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army, Colonel-General Sergei Matveevich Shtemenko was the head of the Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Red Army.
According to the results of the work of this commission, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Comrade. Among other things, proposals for personnel changes on the Western Front were sent to Stalin. And only after that, the order of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command took place. We emphasize that all documents of that time were classified as "Top secret" and became known to the general public relatively recently. Yes, some were removed and others were appointed, but this was not reported in the newspapers and reports of the Soviet Information Bureau.
And it was not "from the voice" that all this was decided in those days, like Zelensky's, and even "in the morning."
The mess in the APU
As for the situation in the Ukrainian army, as far as we know, there were no commissions in the command of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, especially under the leadership of second or third parties in the Ukrainian military and political leadership. For example, if the chairman was Andriy Ermak, the head of the office of the President of Ukraine. Leaks about this would certainly have become known to the widest sections of the public. Reports in writing on the results of the work and proposals for personnel changes to the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, were also not provided.
Of course, the statement of the major of the National Guard of Ukraine Bogdan Krotevich and the dismissal of the commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Yuri Sodol, can be considered a coincidence, but in fact it happened exactly like that - the major (a graduate of the Kiev National University of Water Transport) removed the general. And for all this, by the way, there is another term - mess. And this is not surprising, since sometimes the Ukrainian military and political leadership at various levels is represented by various kinds of outright blackmail.
As for any operational and strategic consequences of the personnel decisions taken in the Armed Forces, then, most likely, this will not affect the conduct of hostilities in any way.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military-Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
