Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
He also apologizes to the former minister of defense, if he has offended him.
Ukraine is in the middle of a crisis.
Not only is the country under attack by Russia (and has been for more than four years), but the ousting of the popular minister of defense, Mykhailo Fedorov, announced last week, has thrown the country into turmoil, as thousands of protesters have taken to the streets to demand his reinstatement.
It is still unclear why Fedorov was dismissed from the position, but speaking following the announcement, Fedorov told reporters that the Ministry of Defense ran into a “complete blocking” of all the reforms and initiatives he proposed for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The leader of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, and according to Fedorov, the rift between them is one of the main reasons for the political shake-up.
Since the dismissal of Fedorov, Syrskyi has stayed silent on the matter, but now he has given his view on the whole situation.
“I can be harsh”
In his personal column on Militarnyi titled “My Job is War”, Ukraine’s top commander insisted that his focus remains entirely on fighting the war.
He rejected claims of internal sabotage. Instead, the general described their tense relationship as standard working discussions between two major institutions under immense wartime pressure.
“If I offended anyone—Mykhailo Albertovich (Fedorov, ed.)—I’m sorry,” Syrskyi wrote in a public statement. “I can be harsh.”
By Tuesday, the commander urged observers to stop taking sides. Dividing citizens into political camps only helps the enemy, he warned, insisting that Ukraine is bigger than any individual leader.
Strategy over vision
Managing an army takes more than slick slogans. Behind the scenes, Syrskyi stressed that real wartime planning cannot be reduced to viral social media posts.
He drew a sharp line between business ideas and military reality. “Vision is a useful thing: you can build a startup with a vision,” Syrskyi wrote. “But to win a war, you need a strategy.”
The Ministry of Defense handles procurement, while the General Staff directs forces on the battlefield. That division of labor is standard across the military world.
He also dismissed accusations of micromanagement. To streamline operations, he recently delegated troop transfer authority directly to corps commanders.
More than drones
Syrskyi also pushed back forcefully against critics claiming he opposes modern technology. He pointed out that he personally created the Unmanned Systems Forces as an independent branch and placed a respected veteran at its head.
“A person who ‘does not want to fight with drones’ does not create the world’s first separate branch of unmanned systems,” Syrskyi noted.
Drones inflict severe damage. Yet artillery, air defense, and ground infantry remain equally critical to holding the front. Careless experiments, the general warned, cost human lives.
