Reuters is reporting that Commander Oleksandr Syrskyi, who leads the ground forces in Ukraine, was offered the job of commander of the armed forces by Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's armed forces President Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, but declined.
Syrskyi has successfully commanded Ukraine's ground forces against Russian aggression since 2014. His call sign is "snow leopard," a cool but subtle indicator of the methods he uses on the battlefield.
He fought a Moscow-supported insurgency in eastern Ukraine prior to the current onset of violence and told reporters he got the name because he uses "tactics that were similar to how this cat hunts," he explained.
"This creature is very careful, cunning, and courageous."
Two years ago, he led a counteroffensive to retake large patches of land in the Kharkiv region. The commander has also been the target of multiple assassination attempts from the Russians because of his proficiency on the battlefield.
"Let's say this: we're familiar with rocket strikes," he said at the time.
Ukraine media had reported that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had asked the head of the Ukrainian army, General Zaluzhnyi, to step down earlier this week but he refused.
What Would The Ramifications Be?
If the general were to step aside, it would certainly affect Ukraine's ongoing defense effort against Russia, which already holds 18% of Ukraine's territory-and attempting to fend off attacks on multiple arenas in the east of the country.
This as future military aid from the United States remains something of an uncertainty. Senior intelligence officer Kyrylo Budanov is also being considered to replace Zaluzhnyi. It is not immediately known how Western allies will react to such a shakeup in leadership.
According to the Council on Foreign Affairs, Ukraine has become the top recipient of U.S. foreign aid since February 2022.
This is the first time a European country has received this much aid from the United States since the Marshall Plan was initiated by the Truman administration in the aftermath of World War II.
As of December 2023, the United States had given more than $75 billion to Ukraine in the form of humanitarian, financial, and military support.
