Krotevych calls on Syrskyi to resign as AFU Commander-in-Chief – Guardian
Former Chief of Staff of the 12th Special Forces Brigade of the Azov National Guard Bohdan Krotevych said that Oleksandr Syrskyi should resign as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as he risks the lives of Ukrainian soldiers by giving "almost criminal" orders, and that Ukraine's military leadership should be changed.
He said this in an interview with The Guardian, Censor.NET reports.
Krotevych said that Syrskyi and the current leadership were engaged in "manual micro-management of the whole army" and emphasized the orders given to soldiers and units, forcing them to rest and base themselves too close to the front.
"I started receiving orders from the highest army command, from the headquarters of the commander-in-chief, which were becoming more and more criminal, which, in my conscience, I could not fulfill and follow," said the former Azov chief of staff.
He also told The Guardian that he had "decided to quit" the Ukrainian army by 70% because commanders still "demand from soldiers what they do not demand from themselves.
"The General Staff has ordered that when a soldier finishes his shift [on the front line], he cannot rest in the rear, he must rest 50 meters from the front. Forcing soldiers to recover so close to the front, put "all these people in grave danger," Krotevych emphasized.
He also accused the army command of a "criminal misunderstanding of the principles of warfare now," in particular, "how FPV drones work, how glider bombs work."
According to him, the Ukrainian command has not responded properly to the sharp increase in the use of FPV drones, which can operate at a distance of up to 22 km, and Russian GABs, which has led to the stretching of the front line.
"They still live in the mentality of World War II. They still refuse to recognize the new means of hitting targets." He said that the army commander is relying on instructions issued in 2016 to justify forcing soldiers to be based so far ahead, at a time when "the war was completely different," the Azov veteran emphasized.
According to him, such thinking also influenced the location of large headquarters. On one occasion, Krotevych said, the Azov Brigade headquarters was itself hit after the unit "asked, insisted" that it be pulled back as Russian troops were advancing. "We were directly told 'no', and we got a direct hit."
"Syrskyi does not try to apply high science and military art. He performs "only two functions: if the enemy is advancing, you just throw more people in there. And if the enemy is overwhelming, you withdraw people and say that you are worried about people's lives." Syrskyi must go," Krotevych said, arguing that the Commander-in-Chief, appointed in February 2024, has failed to break through the Russian line, except for Kursk in August, where he found the "weakest point" and delivered a simple "linear strike."
While Krotevych said that attacking Russia made sense at the time, he accused Syrskyi of focusing too much on the offensive "when we had huge problems" with the defense of Pokrovsk in southern Donbas, and "stayed there too long" as Moscow gradually pulled back and Ukrainian forces suffered significant losses.
