Ukraine's Syrskyi says mobilisation reform is Defence Ministry's remit: "I want to see it as much as the whole country does"

Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has spoken about shortcomings in the new military contract system, concerns over military pay, and his expectations for the reform of enlistment offices.

By Tetyana Oliynyk

‘I didn’t know we had a conflict. Sorry if I caused offense,’ Ukraine’s military chief Syrsky says

I’m at war. I have no interest in giving interviews or writing columns. But my silence has come to be read as agreement, so I decided to speak up. They say I have no strategy for victory — but announcing a strategy publicly would mean handing it to the enemy. They say I don’t want to fight with drones — but I’m the one who established the Unmanned Systems Forces as a separate branch of the military. They say I promote only loyalists — but the army’s most popular commanders rose from junior of...