Oleksandr Syrskyi

Oleksandr Stanislavovych Syrskyi (Олександр Станіславович Сирський; born 26 July 1965) is a Ukrainian military officer. Holding the rank of colonel general, he has served as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 8 February 2024. Previously, he was the commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces from 2019 to 2024, and the commander of the Joint Forces Operation from May to August 2019.

During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Syrskyi commanded the defence of Kyiv. In September 2022, he commanded the Kharkiv counteroffensive. He then led the defense of Bakhmut into 2023.

Early life and career
Syrskyi was born on July 26, 1965 in the village of Novinki,  Vladimir Oblast, Russian SFSR, then in the Soviet Union  into a military family of ethnic Russians. As of 2023, his parents and brother live in Russia.

In 1980, when Syrskyi was 15, his father was transferred to serve in the Soviet Armed Forces in Kharkiv, Ukrainian SSR. Syrskyi graduated from high school in Kharkov and entered the Moscow Higher Military Command School, the Soviet Union’s leading higher military educational institution. After his graduation in 1986, Syrskyi joined the Soviet Artillery Corps. He initially served in a self-propelled artillery unit equipped with the 152 mm 2S5 Giatsint-S and 203 mm 2S7 Pion self propelled howitzers, including in units earmarked to fire nuclear shells. He later served in Rocket Artillery units fielding the BM-27 Uragan MBRL. He served in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Czechoslovakia until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

In 1993, following the dissolution of the USSR, Syrskyi’s military unit in Chuhuiv was transferred under Ukrainian command, and he was quickly promoted to a position of a regiment commander (equivalent to the rank of colonel). In 1996 he graduated from the National Defense University of Ukraine, and in 2005 he received a graduate degree from the same university.

In the early 2000s, he was promoted to the commander of the 72nd Mechanized Brigade, based in Bila Tserkva and promoted to the rank of major-general. In 2007 he was appointed as a Chief of Staff – first deputy of United Operative Commander of Ukrainian Armed Forces. In 2011-2012 he was first deputy of Main Direcotorate of military collaboration and peace-keeping operations. In 2013 he was stationed at NATO's headquarters in Brussels.

Syrskyi is married to a Ukrainian woman, and has two sons. One of them was adopted and lives in Australia.

War in Donbas
At the beginning of the war in Eastern Ukraine, he was the chief of staff of anti-terrorist operations. In particular, he was one of the chief commanders of the anti-terrorist operation forces during the battle of Debaltseve. In the winter of 2015, he went to the city with the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Viktor Muzhenko. He led the battles in Vuhlehirsk, the village of Ridkodub and an unsuccessful attempt to recapture Lohvynove. He also coordinated the withdrawal of the Ukrainian military from Debaltseve. Under his leadership, possible routes of crossing the Karapulka River were blown up.

Oleksandr Syrskyi was awarded the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky III degree and later received the rank of lieutenant-general due to his achievement during the battle of Debaltseve. In 2016, he headed the Joint Operational Headquarters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which coordinates the operational actions of various Ukrainian security forces in the Donbas. In 2017, he was the commander of the entire Anti-Terrorist Operation in eastern Ukraine. It was later replaced by the Joint Forces Operation.

From 6 May to 5 August 2019 he was the commander of the Joint Operational Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Since 5 August 2019, Syrskyi has been the Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. On 23 August 2020, he was promoted to the rank of colonel general. The rank is no longer awarded in the Ukrainian army since 1 October 2020, but Syrskyi retained it, being at this moment the only Ukrainian military officer left in active service to hold this particular rank.

Russian invasion of Ukraine
During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Syrskyi initially organised and led the defense of Kyiv.

In April 2022, Syrskyi was given the Hero of Ukraine award for his efforts. In September 2022, media reported that Syrskyi was the architect behind the successful Kharkiv counteroffensive.

During the war, Syrskyi was criticised for pursuing bloody Soviet-style military tactics which resulted in significant Ukrainian losses during the Battle of Bakhmut, and was nicknamed "General 200" (a reference to Cargo 200, a Soviet military code denoting military fatalities).

On 8 February 2024, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy replaced Valerii Zaluzhnyi with Syrskyi as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, following months of speculation of a rift between Zaluzhnyi and Zelenskyy.

On 17 February 2024, as his first major decision as commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi ordered the complete withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from Avdiivka to "more favourable lines" in order "to avoid encirclement and preserve the lives and health of service personnel".

On 28 April 2024, he announced that Ukrainian forces had retreated from the villages of Berdychi, Semenivka, and Novomykhailivka in Donetsk Oblast due to the positions becoming untenable.

Military ranks

 * Major general (August 20, 2009)
 * Lieutenant general (December 5, 2016)
 * Colonel general (August 23, 2020)

Awards

 * Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky III degree (14 March 2015)
 * Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky II degree (18 March 2022)
 * Hero of Ukraine (5 April 2022)
 * Cross of Military Merit (27 July 2022)
 * Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky I degree (11 December 2022)