Ukraine's top brass reshuffle won't affect war effort in the least — Russian MP

Ukraine's top brass reshuffle won't affect war effort in the least — Russian MP Igor Kastyukevich said that Russia will continue to liberate territories from the Kiev regime’s powerMOSCOW, July 22. /TASS/. Vladimir Zelensky appointed Mikhail Drapaty as the Ukrainian armed forces’ commander-in-chief to appease an unhappy populace, while for Russia, this move won't change the course of the special military operation, Federation Council member from the Kherson Region Igor Kastyukevich told TASS. He went on to say that Russia will continue to liberate territories from the Kiev regime’s power. Zelensky said earlier that he had appointed Drapaty as the new commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces to replace Alexander Syrsky amid week-long protests calling for his axing. "No matter how you change the order, the bottom line remains the same. One fascist has been replaced with another, because otherwise the citizens would have staged a ‘Maidan’ uprising, something the West can't handle right now. So, Zelensky was ordered to quell dissent by shaking up the first string. Fort Russia, this reshuffle will not change anything," said Kastyukevich. In the view of the Federation Council member, Drapaty is a war criminal, same as the sacked Syrsky. "All war criminals in the ranks of the Ukrainian armed forces complicit in strikes on and genocide of civilians in Donbass, Novorossiya, Kursk, Belgorod, Bryansk, and other regions of Russia, as well as in attacks on schools, hospitals, and ambulances, must be liquidated together with the Russophobic ideology. On July 4, Mikhail Fyodorov was removed from office as the Ukrainian defense minister, also because of a conflict with the commander-in-chief, Alexander Syrsky. On July 16, rallies began in Ukrainian cities against Fyodorov's resignation. The protesters demanded that Fyodorov be reinstated, and Syrsky fired. On the sixth day of the protests, Zelensky announced he was dismissing Syrsky. On November 28, 2016, the Russian Investigative Committee opened criminal cases under Part 1 of Article 356 of the Russian Criminal Code (use of prohibited means and methods of warfare) against Drapaty and several other Ukrainian commanders for shelling civilian infrastructure facilities in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) from heavy weapons. Later, on September 22, 2023, the Russian Interior Ministry put Syrsky on the wanted list for the shelling of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics in 2017-2019 as a result of which 154 civilians were killed and injured. 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