Ukraine says Russia waging disinformation campaign to paint new AFU Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi as ‘Russian’

Russia has launched a propaganda campaign to discredit the new Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, according to Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, a working body of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.

The center notes that Russian media are trying to paint Syrskyi as a “Soviet and Russian” individual. “To this end, they are seeking out his relatives in Russia, ‘family friends,’ from whom they get comments which they then disseminate in the media landscape with the suitable context,” the statement said.

The National Security and Defense Council emphasized that Oleksandr Syrskyi has been part of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s team for a long time and commanded operations to liberate Ukraine’s Kyiv and Kharkiv regions.

Syrskyi was born in Russia’s Vladimir region and studied at the Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School. Since the 1980s, he has been serving in the Ukrainian military. After Syrskyi’s appointment as AFU commander-in-chief, Russian propagandists located relatives of his in Vladimir. The relatives stated that they have not had any relationship with Syrskyi for a long time.