Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has expressed his "hatred, contempt and disgust" for Colonel General Oleksandr Syrsky, new commander-in-chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces.
Following months of speculation about a change in military leadership, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fired General Valerii Zaluzhny on Thursday and named Syrsky as his successor. Zelensky praised Syrsky, former commander of Kyiv's ground forces, as "Ukraine's most experienced commander."
Syrsky was born in Russia but has lived in Ukraine since the 1980s. He previously led Ukrainian troops in battle during the 2014 uprising by pro-Russia separatists in Donetsk in Luhansk. He was also in charge of Ukraine's successful 2022 defense of Kyiv and the first major counteroffensive against Russia.
Medvedev, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who serves as deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, wrote in a post to Telegram on Thursday night that he felt "hatred" for Syrsky after "looking at the biography of the new commander-in-chief."
The former Russian president accused Syrsky of being "involved in the collapse of the Soviet Union (and, in fact, the Russian Empire)," lamenting the loss of what he said was "a huge country that balanced the world order."
Medvedev also claimed that Syrsky "serves the Nazis" and accused him of being an admirer of Stepan Bandera, a Nazi collaborator during World War II who is often hailed as a hero by far-right Ukrainian nationalists.
"[I have] disgust for a man who was a Soviet Russian officer, but became a Bandera traitor who broke his oath and serves the Nazis, destroying his loved ones," Medvedev wrote. "Let the earth burn under his feet!"
Newsweek reached out for comment to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense via email on Friday.
Once considered a somewhat more moderate potential successor to Putin, Medvedev has become well-known for making hyperbolic statements amid the Russia-Ukraine war, including repeated threats of launching nuclear strikes on Kyiv and NATO member states.
Although Syrsky studied at Moscow's Higher Military Command School and did serve for a time in the Soviet Russian military, the Ukrainian commander never served for Russia following the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union, which once counted Ukraine as a constituent republic.
In a December post to Telegram, Syrsky said that Moscow had achieved "superiority" on the battlefield but argued that Russia's advantage was due in part to a willingness to sacrifice large numbers of troops in a war of attrition.
"We have to fight in conditions of superiority of the enemy both in weapons and in the number of personnel," wrote Syrsky. "The enemy suffers heavy losses, which he replenishes with the reserves of assault battalions formed from former prisoners."
"Despite daily losses in personnel and equipment, the Russian occupiers continue to carry out offensive actions," he added. "The greatest value for us is the life of our soldiers."
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more
