Former Russian President Dmytro Medvedev, one of Vladimir Putin’s key men, said on Friday that the new commander-in-chief of the Russian-born Ukrainian army is a traitor, Reuters reported.

Medvedev’s reaction came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi appointed General Oleksandr Syrskyi as commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces on Thursday, replacing Valery Zaluzhny.

Sirsky was born in July 1965 in the Vladimir region of Russia, which was then part of the Soviet Union. Like many people of his age in the Ukrainian armed forces, he studied in Moscow – at the Higher Military Command School – among colleagues who later became Russian commanders.

He served in the Soviet artillery for five years and lived in Ukraine since the 1980s.

– Let the earth burn under your feet!

Dmitry Medvedev, the former president and now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, accused Syrsky, who did not serve in the post-Soviet military, of violating an officer’s oath.

“Looking at the biography of the new Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Sirsky, one feels hatred, contempt and disgust,” Medvedev wrote in his official Telegram channel.

“Disgust to a person who was an officer of Soviet Russia, but became a traitor to Bandera, who broke her oath and serves the Nazis, destroying her loved ones. Let the earth burn under his feet!” Medvedev said.

“Bandera” is a reference to Stepan Bandera, a World War II-era Ukrainian nationalist who collaborated with Nazi Germany in the fight against the Red Army. Some Ukrainians consider him a freedom fighter, but many Russians consider him a traitor.

General Syrsky took command of the army of Ukraine

Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, who has led Ukraine’s ground forces since 2019, was promoted to commander of the armed forces on Thursday, replacing Valery Zaluzhny, as the war with Russia approaches its third year.

• see this is who Sirsky is nicknamed “Snow Leopard”and what are his most important victories so far.

In his daily video message on Thursday, Zelensky motivated the change in the leadership of the Armed Forces by saying that there is a “sense of stagnation” in the fight against the Russians and that “we need a different approach, especially in terms of rotations.” .”

Ukraine’s strategy must “change and adapt” to deal with Russia after two years of invasion, General Zaluzhnyi admitted on Thursday.

Zelenskyy has the right to choose who will lead Ukraine’s military, and the United States will work effectively with his new military chief, a senior Pentagon official said in the first U.S. reaction since Zaluzhny was removed from office.