Conflict with Syrskyi or military expediency: the Armed Forces of Ukraine explained Drapatyi's new position to LIGA.net

Transfer of major general Mykhailo Drapatiy to the post of commander of the newly created Joint Forces Group may be due to both political reasons and military expediency. This follows from the statements of the interlocutors LIGA.net in the Defense Forces that they have made for a text about this situation.

Some interlocutors call Drapatiy's removal from the fighting in the East a rivalry: the military could have become the next candidate for the post of commander-in-chief, so now some of his powers have been cut.

However, even in the environment of the commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, and Drapatiy's entourage deny any conflict between them. At the same time, one of the officers close to the commander-in-chief suggested LIGA.net that Drapatyi probably does have political ambitions.

Another officer of the Defense Forces noted that it is necessary to take into account the specifics of the military environment: any manifestation of a bright personality, talent or authority is read as political ambitions.

"General Drapatiy certainly has all of the above. If you ask me as an officer, all military men are apolitical, disciplined, and there are no intrigues. If you ask me as a civilian, the human factor cannot be dismissed, and the distribution of influence within a group is relevant for any community," the interlocutor explained.

Instead, those around Syrskyi describe attempts to demonize the commander-in-chief as a political struggle for influence. One of the interlocutors from the military noted that whoever holds this position now "would be shot down in the same way as they were shot down Zaluzhniy before".

"Drapatiy is one of those who are being used as a torpedo to escalate the conflict. And it is not a fact that Drapatiy himself gave his consent to this," he explained.

At the same time, not all personnel changes in the command are due to competition, and generals are not always "eaten up," said LIGA.net another interlocutor close to the leadership of the Armed Forces.

According to him, it may also be a matter of military expediency: "The chief of staff has the right to change commanders. He can make decisions or select specific people for a specific task. No one will publicly explain which task."

The interlocutor also added that there are health-related issues.

"No one will publicly explain: this general has eye problems because he has been working in basements for months, this one has a hypertensive crisis, and that one has pancreatitis from the war. Such statements demoralize the army," he explained.

• Read more about the situation with Drapatyi's transfer to a new position in the LIGA.net's text.
• On October 20, it became known that a new The Joint Forces Group the command is headed by DrapatIy. The command's area of responsibility covers the Kharkiv region and adjacent territories.
• Prior to that, major general was the head of the larger operational and strategic grouping of troops "Dnipro", which, along with other JFGs, was liquidated from switching to an enclosure system. He was also the head of the Joint Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which is almost fully passed to the leadership of the newly created JFG.