The top commander of the Ukrainian military was abruptly replaced on Monday.
The commander of Ukraine’s Joint Forces Command was dismissed just hours after complaints about recent military operations were raised.
According to the Financial Times (FT), President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Commander-in-Chief, dismissed Lt Gen Yuriy Sodol that night.
Zelenskyy announced that Brig Gen Andriy Hnatov would replace the spot.
The sudden replacement of the Chief of the General Staff came immediately after Bohdan Krotevych, the leader of Ukraine’s revered Azov regiment, harshly criticized Sodol’s operations.
He blamed Sodol for being incompetent on the battlefield and claimed that thousands of Ukrainian soldiers had lost their lives due to his incompetence.
Ukraine has been gradually losing ground to Russian forces after the Russian offensive failed last year, and U.S. military support was delayed by six months. The war in Ukraine, which had entered a lull, has become fierce again under the Russian offensive, with Ukraine losing territory in the process. Krotevych revealed on social media that he had requested the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) to investigate Sadovyi’s behavior.
He said, “I sent a letter to the SBI requesting an investigation into a military general,” and criticized, “In my opinion, this general has killed more Ukrainian soldiers than any Russian general.”
Krotevych stated, “I don’t care if the SBI starts an investigation against me,” and added, “I don’t mind if they put me in prison.”
He emphasized, “What concerns me is that combatants and battalion commanders are punished for losing an observation post (OP), but this general faces no repercussions for losing thousands of soldiers and dozens of cities and regions.”
Sodol was appointed last February but faced the disgrace of being dismissed from the Joint Chiefs of Staff just four months later.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin recently expressed his willingness to negotiate an end to the war with Ukraine under the condition that four frontline regions occupied by Russia be annexed to Russia.
However, Ukraine immediately rejected this proposal.
The Ukrainian war has been ongoing for over two years and four months since Russia’s sudden invasion on February 20, 2022.
