Zelenskyy taps seasoned combat commanders to fill ranks after dismissing top general

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced candidates for the team of the new Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi. Maksym Zhorin, deputy commander of the 3rd separate assault brigade, called them "absolute combat commanders" during a broadcast of Natalia Moseychuk's program.

"With some – as early as 2015. Absolutely combat commanders, I definitely can't give ratings, but you have to understand that there are no extraordinary changes in the army. It's a completely normal process when a battalion commander is changed in a brigade. These are the same people changes, it's always been like that. In the army, there should be constant movement from the bottom up," Zhorin said.

He believes that former army chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi and his successor Syrskyi "are from the same school".

"I hope that later those generals and colonels named by the president will rise up – they saw the war from the trenches to commanding brigades or even general staffs. This is a new military generation, they have their own experience on the battlefield, it cannot be replaced by any school in any one country. These are all commissioned officers, all of them have been fighting since the time of the Anti-Terrorist Operation/Joint Forces Operation," the officer stressed.

Earlier, Zelenskyy said that Brigadier Generals Andriy Hnatov, Mykhailo Drapatyi, Ihor Skybyuk, as well as Colonels Pavlo Palisa and Vadym Sukharevskyi are being considered for key leadership positions in the army.

On Thursday, Zelenskyy and Zaluzhnyi held a meeting. The president noted that the parties discussed the need to renew the Armed Forces, he suggested that Zaluzhnyi "continue to be in the team", but did not specify in what position.

Zelenskyy announced that Syrskyi will be the new commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces.

Relevant dismissal and appointment decrees have been published.