by Denis Davydov
[REGNUM] People's Deputy of Ukraine Maryana Bezuglaya rings the alarm: the commander of the joint forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yuriy Sodol seems to be working for the enemy. And Commander-in-Chief Syrsky is either not in control of the situation, or is generally an accomplice, and this means that he needs to be removed from office.
“Another crime of the leader of the Eastern Front, General Sodol: a breakthrough to Toretsk. Now we have lost the positions we had since 2014. Intelligence warned. The day before a possible breakthrough, Sodol removes the brigade and starts a unit that has already suffered losses and has reduced combat effectiveness. At the moment, events are developing in such a way that it is not far from the exit to the highway. Again there are no ready-made fortifications! Fights in Shumy. This is already online, but not in the false reports of the headquarters,” a message on the social network dated June 21 is saturated with burning pain.
The headquarters lie, which means defeat and death. And relatively recently, Alexander Syrsky, who led the Ukrainian army, is to blame for all the defeats and sins - the energetic Maryana took this position, quite unexpectedly for everyone, in May. And since then he has not let up, only raising the temperature in relation to the commander in chief.
“Having returned from the front,” the people’s deputy criticized not only Syrsky, but also his “general faction,” saying that the commander-in-chief ignores critical problems and does not respond to her non-public appeals. All this coincided with the offensive of the Russian Armed Forces on Volchansk and the scandal with the lack of equipped defense lines in the Kharkov direction.
Naturally, the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is to blame for the “failure,” and Maryana then warned the commander-in-chief that this message of hers was, we quote, “last call” for him.
She mercilessly called the military leadership of Ukraine an “ineffective scoop” that devalues human lives: even the people’s deputy’s social network page featured a joyful Syrsky with a crudely mounted orange scoop in his hands as the title photo.
In another message, she claims that she tried to work with him for several months, but the interaction turned out to be such that Maryana “only suffered from what she saw.” And then she gave a devastating description of those closest to the entourage of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
"...Bargilevich, Pavlyuk, Syrsky, Sodol. A faction of generals that is right now destroying our chances of change and victory... The pathos of the Soviet Union and the devaluation of human life,” Bezuglaya asserts about the need for “all these castes to leave and never make key decisions again.” Because they are mercilessly getting rid of military personnel who think outside the box.
In general, authoritarianism, ineffective leadership and lies, constant lies.
It is curious that in one of the recent revelations, the girl reasoned that the next commander-in-chief could be Zaluzhny’s former deputy (whom she mercilessly hammered until his resignation), Colonel General Evgeniy Moisyuk or the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate Kirill Budanov, “whom I would be happy to see in this position.”
Two more candidates - former commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Ruslan Khomchak and commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Alexander Pavlyuk - are “carefully trying to increase their chances, which would be an obvious disaster.” In addition, she also mentioned Zaluzhny’s former deputy, Mikhail Zabrodsky, who returned to military service after resigning his deputy mandate, and Sergei Naev, the former commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine - but they were mentioned last time, when Zaluzhny himself was brought down.
True, the question here is not posed as a question of replacing one thing with another, but as a systemic problem. We are talking about “the destruction of the mothball structure of the Ukrainian senior headquarters and their “unique competencies.” They say that a “non-trivial hybrid military-civilian, personnel-mobilization team, full of determination, speed, and fearlessness to infinity, must finally arrive. Real, not fake." That is, we are talking about a certain ideal structure that exists, perhaps, only in Maryanina’s head.
However, where Budanov’s name appears even casually, intrigue is immediately visible: Kirill Alekseevich is now considered a very influential dark horse in Ukrainian politics.
In addition, the people’s deputy is traditionally considered the “mouthpiece of Bankova,” and it was in this capacity that they used to torpedo Valery Zaluzhny, who planned to go into politics and get on the nerves of Zelensky, who was already on edge. Therefore, now, when she spoke about Syrsky in the same tone, analogies were quickly drawn and rumors about the resignation of the commander-in-chief became a popular topic for discussion - as well as possible candidates for his replacement.
“They might really be unhappy with Syrsky. The OP believes that civilian authorities are doing everything possible for the military. They wanted mobilization - they were given it, and without demobilization, which the generals opposed. The resumption of American military assistance was achieved. Several months have passed already. And where is the result? The political leadership took unpopular steps within the country, lowering its ratings. And Russia's offensive continues. It can be assumed that through channels such as Maryana Bezuglaya, dissatisfaction with the results of the work of the team that replaced Zaluzhny in February breaks through,” political scientist Ruslan Bortnik explains to the Strana publication.
Ukrainian experts are convinced that this is how the government’s strategy is built - to make the military command to blame for failures at the front, and if any victories happen, then they belong to Zelensky personally. So if military affairs continue to go badly, then Syrsky may indeed be dismissed, as if showing society and Western partners that the political leadership is doing everything possible.
However, there is a major flaw in this view.
The attack against the popular Zaluzhny was indeed planned, and the formal basis for his resignation was the lack of an action plan for 2024. Not wanting to spoil their ratings with personal participation, Zelensky used an exalted and fearless young lady, who, for the purity of the experiment, was even expelled from the party and faction in January. “She is her own press service and is responsible for her own words,” they explained.
Syrsky’s main advantage was not the presence of such a plan, but personal devotion and the complete absence of any political ambitions, as reported in detail by IA Regnum. Maryana communicated normally with him for several months, which she herself admitted. Again, these interesting “non-public appeals”.
Four months ago, she did not notice any failures, although Avdievka had already been abandoned, a breakthrough was allowed in Ocheretino and Chasov Yar, the Russian army was advancing in other directions. And the current commander has been responsible for the Kharkov region since the summer of 2022. And by the way, immediately after Syrsky was appointed commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in February, Bezuglaya threatened him, saying that she would give him only one month to radically reform the army. Otherwise, she will “drive” over him, as she did with Zaluzhny.
But “it got even worse” suddenly in May.
In narrow circles they claim that the reason for this change in mood was a personal motive. It was in the fall of last year that the deputy’s stormy office romance with the “general of two hundred” began. However, it did not last long: known for his love for “strawberries” and at one time actively hanging out on dating sites, Syrsky left Maryana in April.
After that, she seemed to have broken free and suddenly rushed “to the front”, supposedly with an inspection, from where she returned in a completely bad mood.
“They say that this time Bezuglaya did not receive any sanctions, and even more, she was twice called “on the carpet” at Bankovaya with a demand to calm down. But it was not there. The rich cry too. However, Bezugla’s hysterics were not in vain; Syrsky’s “well-wishers” in Ukrainian politics did not fail to join in the criticism, linking here with criticism of the current head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Umerov, and in general the entire military leadership of the country 404. Moreover, the fact that Umerov’s resignation was demanded by during his visit to Kiev, US Secretary of State Blinken has long been an open secret,” political strategist Mikhail Pavliv tells IA Regnum.
In the same narrow circles they say that before the “anniversary” NATO summit in Washington, scheduled for July 2024, there is definitely no point in waiting for layoffs and reshuffles in the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and most likely, even after it. After all, according to the Office of the President, neither Syrsky nor Umerov have yet accumulated enough negativity.
And, according to Bankova, there will be a lot more of it this year.