KYIV, Ukraine: President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday fired Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi as commander-in-chief of Ukraine\u2019s armed forces and named his replacement, following days of mass protests in Kyiv, the country\u2019s capital, and other cities across the nation demanding his removal.
\nIt was the second major change Zelensky has made under street pressure, after protests last summer forced him to undo a law weakening Ukraine\u2019s anti-corruption watchdogs.
\nZelensky appointed Mykhailo Drapatyi as the new army chief, according to a statement on social media. \u201cOur shared wish is one \u2014 victory over the enemy and conditions at the front and in pressure on Russia that would force Russia toward peace,\u201d Zelensky said.
\nThe Ukrainian leader said he made the decision after a series of meetings with military commanders. They began shortly after protests broke out demanding the reinstatement of former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, seen by demonstrators as a driver of military modernization, and the removal of Syrskyi, who they said embodied the army\u2019s old, Soviet-style command culture.
\nZelensky thanked Syrskyi for his achievements in Ukraine\u2019s fight against Russia and praised him for the defense of Kyiv and for operations in Kharkiv and Kursk.
\n\u201cI am grateful to Oleksandr Syrskyi and to every one of our warriors for Ukraine\u2019s strong front-line positions,\u201d he said. \u201cI am grateful to Mykhailo Drapatyi for holding that same view.\u201d
\nDrapatyi wrote in a Facebook post that serving Ukraine \u201chas always been an honor for me, and during this war for independence, it means absolute responsibility.\u201d He thanked Syrskyi for his consistent work strengthening the Ukrainian military.
\n\u201cI grew up in it,\u201d he added, referring to the army. \u201cI will work responsibly, with focus and with respect for the people defending our state today.\u201d
\nZelensky said Drapatyi and other commanders must present an updated defense strategy, including continued reform of the corps system, faster weapons and drone deliveries, stronger air defense against Russian strikes and a clearer mobilization plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KYIV, Ukraine: President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday fired Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi as commander-in-chief of Ukraine\u2019s armed forces and named his replacement, following days of mass protests in Kyiv, the country\u2019s capital, and other cities across the nation demanding his removal. It was the second major change Zelensky has made under street pressure, after protests last …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":100612,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100597"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100615,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100597\/revisions\/100615"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}