As Ukrainian forces struggle and fail to stop Russia’s advance on multiple fronts, it appears that Volodymyr Zelensky wants to “get rid of Syrsky and replace him with God knows who,” former CIA analyst Larry Johnson said during an interview on YouTube podcast Dialogue Works.
Such a move won’t actually matter, Johnson says, pointing out that Syrsky is “not a magician” who could conjure out of thin air “new brigades of soldiers that are trained and ready to go to combat” – something that Ukraine currently has in very short supply.
That said, Syrsky himself is not some kind of peerless commander, with Johnson noting that the Ukrainian general “made some bad tactical decisions” such as not building adequate defensive lines before Russian troops went on the offensive this year.