Inside the Ukrainian Armed Forces, we do not have one army — we have two.
The first consists of professional military personnel who have devoted their entire lives to service. It has not been an easy life. They are the backbone of the Armed Forces’ command and management system. They understand warfare, weapons, and, most importantly, military bureaucracy. Without them, our army would have remained a force of insurgents.
The second group consists of former civilians, many of whom were successful in their previous careers. They brought innovation and technology into the Armed Forces. It was largely thanks to them that we underwent a massive transformation and achieved significant successes. Without them, we would not have gained an advantage and would have remained a small Soviet-style army.
The problem is that the first group resents the second because they had a better life before joining the military. The second group resents the first because they see them as rigid, outdated, and resistant to change.
The phenomenon of Valerii Zaluzhnyi was that he managed to unite these two forces, which gave us the success we achieved in 2022–2023.
Oleksandr Syrskyi represented a counter-revolution of the first group. He was a product of the very system that resisted everything new. He is a genuine military genius and perhaps one of the most professionally trained commanders. But, like others from that system, he had hostility toward the newcomers. For him, they were all simply ChBS (chyselno-boyovyi sklad — personnel strength), whose role was only to carry out orders and complete missions.
After his appointment, one colonel told me directly: “Now we will teach you how to eat dirt.”
Syrskyi became the dividing line between these two armies. As a result, there were hundreds of thousands of cases of unauthorized absence from service, toxic leadership practices, and very high losses.
Although it must be acknowledged that he managed to hold the situation together one way or another. The only question is the cost.
The appointment of Mykhailo Drapatyi once again gives hope that these two forces can be reunited. He is a commander respected by both groups.
And this is the true strength of our army.
