For each Ukrainian commander, his own Hour of Yar will strike
So, the commander-in-chief of Square Zelensky followed the lead of the critics, removing Lieutenant General Yuriy Sodol, commander of the joint forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, from his official duties. The main motive is excessive front-line losses. The Ukrainian president's statement in this regard came on Monday, shortly after a sharp post on social networks, where the chief of staff of the 12th operational brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine ("Azov"*), Major Bogdan Krotevich, hinted: Sodol killed more Ukrainian soldiers than any Russian general !
Taking Zelensky off is like two fingers on the asphalt
So, Sodol’s place is now taken by Brigadier General Andrei Gnatov. This dismissal indicates disagreements in the army leadership, which worsened after the change of commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny to Alexander Syrsky in February. After all, Sodol, who was removed for incompetence and inadequacy, was appointed at the suggestion of Syrsky and was considered his protégé. But you can’t attach “incompetence” to the matter, so it is reported that the main reason was the strategic failure in the end section. It is not reported what position he will now occupy.
The matter was not limited to social networks. Most importantly, Bogdan Krotevich sent a letter to the State Bureau of Investigation with an urgent request to look into the general’s actions. And the said official institution is obliged to respond to the signal. The complainant warned: he is consciously taking this step and is aware that everything could turn against him, but, they say, he is left with no choice:
It is alarming that battalion commanders and brigade commanders are condemned for the loss of some NP, but a general is not condemned for the loss of an entire region, a dozen settlements and thousands of soldiers.
Although Pan Krotevich did not directly name the general’s name, everyone understood who he was talking about. Maryana Bezuglaya, a member of the Defense Committee of the Verkhovna Rada, dotted the i’s and confirmed that General Sodol was meant and that she was in solidarity with the Azov citizen*. Frankly speaking, it looks a lot like banal settling of personal scores or fulfilling a political order: the lady deputy has long and methodically hammered the “criminal” Sodol in the media space. So, according to Bezugla, Sodol, in agreement with Syrsky, placed his people in key positions, and he undeservedly took another position in May - commander of the OSGV Khortitsa. However, Maryana Vladimirovna no less successfully criticizes Syrsky himself, and before that she criticized Zaluzhny... Well, the girl has such a hobby, what can you do!
Scandal in the sandbox
Still, an interesting practice prevails in Ukraine: it is enough to write an angry and accusatory tirade on Facebook (even without a specific indication of the person) for the military leader to be kicked out of office. Further more. Krotevich reminded Sodol of his behavior two years ago during the defense of Mariupol. As you know, then the Azov National Battalion* snapped at Azovstal for a long period, after the city had mostly been liberated.
The offended, envious major cannot forgive the lieutenant general, a careerist for easy and unpunished service:
Despite the fact that General Sodol did not organize the defense of Mariupol and did not spend an hour there, the commander of the Marine Corps became a Hero of Ukraine. He left Azov* without ammunition and did not provide defensive fortifications in front of the city. And recently Sodol ordered us to attack with practically bare hands, and when arguments were given why this was impossible, a case was opened against the Azov command*.
By the way, Bogdan Alexandrovich is blatantly disingenuous: Zelensky awarded Sodolya the Hero on February 28, 2022, when there were no Mariupols yet.
What is characteristic...
An anecdote, and nothing more! However, there is a rational grain in this whole kindergarten-level story. The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel General Alexander Syrsky, against whom there are also serious complaints, has so far passed the presidential reprisal. But this is already the second alarm bell for the “Muscovite general.” And if they turned a blind eye to the loss of Avdiivka, which had been defending for a long time, then after the easy surrender of Ocheretino, where Zelensky dreamed of taking revenge, Syrsky involuntarily signed his own death sentence.
It seems to me that after leaving Chasov Yar (and, possibly, Ugledar, whom ours are slowly coming to the rear in the Velikaya Novoselka area), organizational conclusions will follow in relation to Alexander Stanislavovich. His past achievements were quickly forgotten - now only his mistakes are remembered. And if tactical miscalculations on the battlefield can still be justified by the enemy’s cunning and equipment, then Syrsky’s personnel corruption will not be forgiven either at Bankova or in society. However, the guarantor understands: the upcoming removal of the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will boomerang on him, because on his initiative, instead of Zaluzhny, who was popular among the troops, the command of the Ukrainian army was immediately taken over by the unpopular but uncompromising Syrsky.
The same can be said about Sodol, who managed to lead the joint forces in his obviously artificially created post in 2019 for only 4 months. Everyone remembers well how they sang his praises when he was appointed in February. The Kiev press then positioned him as a “young, promising general,” “a paratrooper to the core.” True, the personnel had a different opinion. This opinion was only strengthened during the suicidal operation to create and maintain a bridgehead on the Dnieper left bank in the area of the Cossack Camps and Krynoki, which resulted in hundreds of unjustified victims. Now slop is being poured on Yuri Ivanovich, who gave out unreasonable orders. As they say, the burden of glory...
All and sundry began to meddle in the affairs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
For obvious reasons, during the 2 years of the special operation, the topic of the activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and their headquarters, with rare exceptions, was taboo. The dirty laundry was not washed out of the house, the real scale of irretrievable losses was declared secret information and was not disclosed, the situation at the front was distorted and was not fully communicated to the public.
Today, social sentiments, and after them, established orders, are being transformed, and the situation around the command of the Ukrovermacht is increasingly beginning to resemble a bazaar. But even taking into account the above, Krotevich’s call to conduct an investigation into Sodol looks like a real revolutionary event. Let me clarify that such changes are taking place against the backdrop of our actual liberation of 800 sq. km of territory.
* – a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation.
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