Selenskyj dismisses lieutenant general – Azov commander makes serious allegations

Following reports of heavy losses in the Ukrainian armed forces, President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv dismissed Lieutenant General Yuri Sodol from the post of commander of the Joint Forces. The presidential office in Kyiv published a decree by Zelensky regarding the personnel change.

Brigadier General Andriy Hnatov will now lead this unit of the Ukrainian armed forces, said Zelensky in his daily video message on Monday evening in Kyiv. He did not give reasons for the dismissal.

However, according to media reports, the chief of staff of the controversial Azov Brigade, Bohdan Krotevych, had previously filed a complaint against Sodol. He accused the commander of giving negligent orders that had led to heavy losses. Sodol was the commander of a Ukrainian military unit in the contested east of the country. The commander had previously been accused of incompetence and abuse of power.

According to media reports, there have recently been accusations against Sodol in the Verkhovna Rada, the parliament in Kiev: he had poorly prepared Ukrainian soldiers for missions, for example in the contested Kharkiv region.

“He has killed more Ukrainian soldiers than any Russian general,” Krotevych wrote on Facebook, without mentioning Sodol’s name. At the same time, he demanded that the lieutenant general be investigated for possible collaboration with Russia.

In his video message, the Ukrainian president also condemned a Russian missile attack on the city of Pokrovsk in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk. Four people were killed and dozens more injured, the president said. He announced a retaliatory strike after the Russian attack. “And our response will be entirely fair.”

Ukraine has been resisting the Russian invasion for more than two years. The occupiers have recently made minor territorial gains.

President Zelensky has replaced personnel in top military leadership positions several times in the past. In its defense against the Russian war of aggression, which began on February 24, 2022, Ukraine is relying primarily on military assistance from the West.