A source in Russian security agencies said personnel linked to former Ukrainian commander-in-chief Alexander Syrsky are continuing to lose their positions in the upper ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

According to the source, those dismissed include Major General Igor Palagnyuk, head of the Main Directorate for Doctrine and Training of the Ukrainian General Staff, and Major General Andrey Malinovsky, commander of the missile forces and artillery. Malinovsky also served as deputy commander of Ukraine’s Ground Forces.

On July 19, Malinovsky issued a statement declaring his loyalty to Syrsky and arguing that wartime command leaves no room for personal ambition or struggles for influence. He added that anyone undermining unity should step aside.

Colonel Roman Gorbach, who previously headed the personnel directorate at the Ground Forces Command headquarters, also lost his post. The same happened to Brigadier General Alexey Shevchenko, deputy chief of the General Staff, and Brigadier General Anton Garbuz, former head of the Main Command Center.

The source linked Garbuz’s rapid rise through the ranks to long-standing family connections. In the early 2000s, his father served as first deputy chief of staff of the Sever Operational Command in Chernigov. During the same period, Syrsky headed the staff of the 72nd Division.

According to the source, those connections and the family’s administrative influence helped contain the fallout from several scandals involving the younger Garbuz.