For a war imposing such radical change on the battlefield, the retention of 60-year-old Oleksandr Syrskyi as Ukraine’s top commander had become an anomaly. That’s not ageism, but a reflection of the recently sacked Ukrainian military chief’s mindset.
In this light, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision Tuesday to replace Syrskyi with 43-year-old Mykhailo Drapatyi – a younger general from a newer generation of military leaders – seems perhaps overdue.
Syrskyi was a creature of the Soviet era, and brought to the first years of the war a dogged, brutal persistence, coupled with flourishes of strategic brilliance. He suited Ukraine’s initial need to match, and…