Ukraine gets new army chief. 5 things to know about Oleksandr Syrskyi

Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi (Image: Reuters)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has named Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi the commander of the armed forces on February 8 as the war with Russia nears its third year. Syrskyi has been leading Ukraine's ground forces since 2019 and replaces Valeriy Zaluzhnyi.

Zelenskyy took to X, formerly Twitter, and said, "Starting today, a new management team will take over leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine."

"2024 can become successful for Ukraine only through effective changes in the basis of our defense, which is the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We are all proud of our army and we must do everything in our power to ensure that the Ukrainian army becomes a victorious army," he added.

Today, I made the decision to renew the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

I am grateful to General Zaluzhnyi for two years of defense. I appreciate every victory we have achieved together, thanks to all the Ukrainian warriors who are heroically carrying this war on… pic.twitter.com/GBj9gBI0vT

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 8, 2024

Here are five key facts about Syrskyi:

1 Syrskyi was born in 1965 in Vladimir, east of Moscow. He trained at the Higher Military Command School in the Russian capital and served in the army’s artillery corps. He has lived in Ukraine since the 1980s.

2 In 2019, Syrskyi became the chief of Ukraine's land forces. He has commanded Ukrainian troops fighting a Moscow-backed insurgency in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions that began in 2014 and was given the call sign "Snow leopard".

3 According to reports, Syrskyi says his priority is the morale of his troops. Reportedly, he sleeps for four-and-a-half hours and relaxes by going to the gym. Syrskyi is married and has two sons.

4 Many of Ukraine's biggest victories of Russia's full-scale invasion were overseen by Syrskyi. Syrskyi, 58, is credited with the successful defence of the capital Kyiv. He was given the Hero of Ukraine title, the country’s highest honour in April 2022.

In July of that year, he planned and executed a lightning counteroffensive that pushed Russian troops away from the city of Kharkiv and retook swathes of land to the east and southeast.

5 In early 2023, Syrskyi guided Ukraine's defence of the eastern city of Bakhmut, where thousands of soldiers on both sides were killed in one of the bloodiest battles of the war. Syrskyi said Ukraine's dogged defence of Bakhmut had damaged Russia's overall war effort by tying down the Wagner mercenary group.

(With Reuters inputs)