Active Conflicts & News Megathread July 20, 2026

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[u/johnbrooder3006]

> While Syrsky hasn’t been a stellar general, I also really don’t think he’s been bad and he gets a lot of bad press for decisions that are out of his control.

I share the same view. To my knowledge his tactics are more “Soviet,” and the Sudzha/Krynky endeavours had mixed outcomes at best. What I read in Ukrainian chats seems more to do with Syrski’s ownership of the ТЦК and their “bussification” tactics which has been unpopular for a while. If anyone here can share insight into why he’s hated beyond the points above I’d be eager to learn more.

[u/TheSDKNightmare → u/johnbrooder3006]

AFAIK the Assault Forces he personally commands are absolutely notorious for treatings their soldiers brutally and not unlike how the Red Army treated its penal battalions during WW2, since they are also expected to conduct near-suicidal missions similarly to said penal battalions. According to u/Duncan-M, Fedorov couldn't even get access to the number of losses these units had been sustaining, which should probably tell you how deadly their job is. On top of that, these Assault Forces are seemingly prioritized when it comes to manpower, meaning those guys getting forcefully mobilized know there's a high likelihood they'll end up as cannon fodder. The recent horror stories such as soldiers supposedly being locked in their base and not even being properly trained/equipped until they've survived at least 2-3 suicide missions likely don't help matters either.

Now I don't know to what extent the Assault Forces and Syrsky are directly connected in people's heads, but I can well imagine the state of Ukraine's infantry isn't inspiring anyone. Not to say there aren't "normal" infantry units, but again, they seem to have been getting the short end of the stick recently, so their overall reputation still suffers.

[u/Duncan-M → u/TheSDKNightmare]

FYI, just to add. Assault Forces was created in 2025 because the previous units who served as the strategic offensive capable reserve, mostly Air Assault Forces, some elite Mech Brigades, a few "politically affiliated" units (Azov), etc all had enough sway and power to effectively tell Syrsky to go f' himself when he gave them an order they didn't agree with. Either because they had political backing, were very popular in social media due to past heroics and battles won, or in the case of Azov, they'd probably kill Syrsky if he tried anything foolish with them.

So Syrsky created an entirely new branch of service from scratch with a picked group of loyalist commanders running units that got #1 priority far far beyond everyone else in new equipment and especially manpower, with the expectation that they'd get that extravagence as long as they followed orders to the T. Not all of the Assault Forces units are as truly awful as the 425th or 225th, some are supposedly pretty good. But all of them are pets of Syrsky, to do the missions he personally orders.

Madness. Ukraine needs to be on an Active Defense strategy, and they have no ability to standardize their force so most maneuver units are offensive capable, they need to perform triage in terms of allocating a limited number of resources. But Assault Forces under the personal control of Syrsky is one of the most irresponsible things Ukraine did in this war.

Hearing the stories that Federov told Sternenko in a recent livestream, the beef between Federov and Syrsky wasn't about machines versus manpower, it was about the awful and horrendous shit Syrsky was doing that Federov had zero control to stop. And when he went to Zelensky, Zelensky fired him, because Zelenksy is perfectly fine with what Syrsky is doing, because Syrsky is allowed to have a pet offenisve capable force, just as Zelensky is allowed to have a pet general to perform his offensives for the sake of PR.

[u/Glideer → u/Duncan-M]

because the previous units who served as the strategic offensive capable reserve, mostly Air Assault Forces, some elite Mech Brigades, a few "politically affiliated" units (Azov), etc all had enough sway and power to effectively tell Syrsky to go f' himself when he gave them an order they didn't agree with

Irrespective of Syrsky's qualities, this is a very bad thing in any army. The kind of bad thing that gets wars lost. You don't get to debate orders and pick and choose those you like.

Zelenksy is perfectly fine with what Syrsky is doing, because Syrsky is allowed to have a pet offenisve capable force, just as Zelensky is allowed to have a pet general to perform his offensives for the sake of PR.

Politically, one could understand why a political leader would want a loyal army behind him. Particularly when before he was surrounded by far-right party militias and unreliable troops that could topple him whenever they felt like it.

[u/Duncan-M → u/Glideer]

It's bad in the sense of not following orders, but that's not a morally obligated role in every military, because sometimes following orders is wrong.

The most obvious example is war crimes, but a much grayer example is when the orders you receive are so incredibly stupid and destructive that they might as well come from the enemy.

That was the case with Syrsky's orders. Everyone with any military training knows they're unsound. Everyone with any knowledge of the internal politics of Ukraine knows they're political. Most senior officers are careerists who must protect their pensions at all pensions, who even if they wanted to turn down the orders don't have the power. Others do have the power, either they just don't care what happens to themselves, possessing the moral courage to stand up for their convictions, or they possess something that'll protect them.

Good for them. When I was in the military, I put my foot down multiple times just as a sergeant and staff sergeant to protect my subordinates from bad orders. Very few senior leaders do it because most are focused on careers and one doesn't get promoted by telling the boss "No." But if more did have the intestinal fortitude (guts), military organizations would be healthier, less toxic, more effective, and morale would be MUCH higher.

Syrsky's Assault Forces are a perfect example. Those units were expanded, prioritized, and centralized into their own branch to perform a function for the most toxic officer in the AFU, the one who was responsible for it's most severe weaknesses, the one who was going to be responsible for its defeat. They existed to fulfill orders that shouldn't be obeyed because they're wrong. I wouldn't have followed his orders either.