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Who is Ukraine’s new army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi? The Soviet-born ‘snow leopard’ who became a Ukrainian hero | World News<\/p>\n
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Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi has been named as the new chief of Ukraine’s army.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 58-year-old was promoted by Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/strong> as he removed General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi from the post after months of friction between the pair<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Mr Syrskyi has played a key role in some of Ukraine’s biggest victories – but has also faced criticism for some of his tactics.<\/p>\n Here’s what you need to know about Ukraine’s new army chief.<\/p>\n Follow latest: Putin gives ‘annoying’ half-hour lecture<\/strong><\/p>\n From Soviet Union to Ukraine<\/strong><\/p>\n Mr Syrskyi was born in July 1965 in what is now Russia’s Vladimir region, which was then part of the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n He studied in Moscow at the Higher Military Command School – which has produced commanders in both the Russian and Ukrainian armed forces.<\/p>\n Described as an obsessive planner with iron discipline, some military analysts believe his battlefield tactics reflect his hierarchical Soviet training.<\/p>\n He graduated in 1986 and served in the Soviet Artillery Corps, but did not serve in post-Soviet Russia’s army.<\/p>\n Regardless, senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev called him a “traitor” on his appointment, accusing him of breaking his oath as an officer.<\/p>\n He moved to Ukraine in the 1980s.<\/p>\n The ‘snow leopard’ who became a Ukrainian hero<\/strong><\/p>\n Mr Syrskyi has commanded troops against combined Russian forces since 2014, when he earned his call sign “snow leopard”.<\/p>\n They fought a Moscow-backed insurgency in eastern Ukraine using “tactics that were similar to how this cat hunts,” he told Reuters in January.<\/p>\n “This creature is very careful, cunning and courageous.”<\/p>\n