Poroshenko appoints new military commander in Donbas

Ukrainian President
Petro Poroshenko announced on May 6 that he appointed Lt. Gen. Oleksandr
Syrskiy as the new commander in chief of the Joint Forces Operation in occupied
Donbas. He replaces Lt. Gen. Serhiy Nayev, who was appointed a year ago, at the
recommendation of defense officials to rotate the military leadership. Syrskiy
has held all the command positions in the military operation, from platoon
commander to deputy director of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of
Ukraine, Poroshenko noted in his Facebook post. Syrskiy was among the
commanders during the battle of Debaltseve in the winter of 2015, which
concluded with the second draft of the Minsk Accords (known as Minsk Two).

Ivan Aparshyn, the
security and defense adviser to President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy, lauded the
president’s appointment of Syrskiy. “This is a dignified, professional general
and person,” he said, as reported by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency. “He has
the appropriate education and experience. In 2006, we began to form the
Tactical United Command, a new administrative body in the Armed Forces, and I
personally nominated him for the position of the staff director.” At the same
time, Aparshyn questioned why Poroshenko was replacing the operation’s
commander after the elections, when he is leaving office. He called on
retaining all the field commanders for their “immense experience, knowledge,
and who already learned to fight.”

Zenon Zawada: It’s
suspicious that Poroshenko would make such an important appointment just as
he’s leaving office, fueling speculation that Syrskiy is a loyal ally who will
be fulfilling some of the president’s requests once he steps down. At the same
time, it’s positive that the Zelenskiy team agrees with the appointment, and
views the military command as worthy of being retained. This is a sign that the
Zelenskiy team will be leaning towards keeping those Poroshenko officials who
have demonstrated their competence.