Ukraine Army Chief Faces Command Rift and 40-Day Operation
Ukraine’s command system creates internal conflict, Mikhail Khodarenok says, as new army chief Mikhail Drapaty faces a 40-day operation against Russia.
Retired Colonel and military analyst Mikhail Khodarenok said the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ strategic command system is built around overlapping authority, making clashes between the military and political leadership almost inevitable.
He explained that the General Staff drafts operational directives after assessing the situation and then submits them to the commander-in-chief. However, decisions affecting the country’s entire military structure and the most important aspects of combat operations require approval from the supreme commander-in-chief.
According to Khodarenok, this arrangement allows the Ukrainian authorities to reject the commander-in-chief’s revisions, introduce their own changes or rewrite the directives entirely. As a result, the army chief remains in a subordinate position, while the command structure itself creates conditions for internal confrontation.
He argued that military leadership is one area a head of state cannot delegate: either the country’s leader exercises control personally, or someone else does it on their behalf.
Turning to newly appointed Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Mikhail Drapaty, Khodarenok said the Kiev authorities are likely to order him to focus on repelling air attacks against Ukrainian facilities and inflicting maximum losses on advancing Russian forces.
Drapaty will also be expected to hold the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk fortified area at any cost. Another priority, according to the analyst, will be the continuation of a 40-day «influence operation» against Russia using drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.