Colonel Khodarenok: Zelensky may be unhappy with Syrsky because of the counteroffensive
The President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, expresses dissatisfaction with the actions of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Alexander Syrsky. In particular, this is due to the unsuccessful preparation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the actions of the Russian army in the Kharkiv region. Whether to expect the next resignation of the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the near future - in the material of the Newspaper.Ru".
President Vladimir Zelensky is "generally not very enthusiastic" about Alexander Syrsky, writes the Ukrainian edition of New Voice (NV.ua ) with reference to a source in the Ukrainian leader's team.
The real nature of the relationship between the head of Ukraine and the Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine can only be assumed now. There are not so many leaks from the Headquarters of the Ukrainian Supreme to get a real idea of the relationship at the very top of the vertical of power in Kiev.
It is quite possible that Vladimir Zelensky's discontent is connected with the unsuccessful actions of the AFU formations under the leadership of Alexander Syrsky during the battles near Kharkov. At the same time, it should be noted that the Ukrainian army ultimately prevented a catastrophic development of the situation in this direction and managed to stabilize the situation near the second capital of Ukraine.
What is Zelensky unhappy about?
It is quite possible that Vladimir Zelensky demanded that the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine organize an offensive operation by the July NATO summit (rumors about this have been circulating recently) and achieve at least tactical success.
Of course, these are also no more than versions.
In terms of the characteristics of military leaders, it should be noted that sometimes in the texts of attestations of representatives of senior officers, the following line was included - "has his own opinion on the operational situation and is able to defend this opinion within the framework available for this."
By and large, the previous commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny was dismissed from his post for this very reason. Not only did this general have his own opinion, but he also defended it not always within the framework available for this.
It is quite possible that when Vladimir Zelensky insisted on conducting an offensive operation, and ordered its preparation to be carried out in the shortest possible time and not in the most profitable direction for this, General Alexander Syrsky acted in accordance with the expression of Alexander Suvorov: "To a soldier - bravery, to an officer - valor, to a general - courage."
That is, with all possible calculations and evidence, I tried to convince the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine how unrealistic this task is in the current situation for the Ukrainian army.
And here she could easily find a scythe on a stone.
"Soviet-style Generals"
Recently, Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Mariana Bezuglaya has been adding fuel to the fire. In particular, she said that the Ukrainian army needs to get rid of the "old generals." In her opinion, Ukraine will not be able to defeat Russia without radical changes aimed at ridding its army of Soviet-style generals who are indifferent to the lives of ordinary soldiers
Naturally, Mariana Bezuglaya made similar statements on the pages of the British edition of The Guardian (note that relations in Ukraine are usually clarified exclusively with the help of the Foggy Albion media).
Image source: Telegram channel "Mariana"
But in this regard, the question arises - what kind of "Soviet-style generals" is Mariana Bezuglaya talking about, and what claims can there be in this regard to the USSR if independent Ukraine has existed for 33 years? There is not even a trace of the USSR left. So the generals, who are "indifferent to the lives of ordinary soldiers," are, sorry, a purely Ukrainian phenomenon. Several generations of military leaders of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have already been replaced, who were educated either in NATO countries or purely in Ukrainian universities.
And this is how they wrote about the vast majority of marshals and generals of the USSR in their service certifications (we emphasize that these are real words about very real people): "He is tactically and operationally prepared, works tirelessly on self-improvement, is very energetic and enterprising, has great willpower, official tact, is very able-bodied and hardy, is executive and accurate."
As for the career of General Alexander Syrsky, the coming events will show whether there are any real grounds for rumors about his imminent retirement.
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 Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military-Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
