While Zelensky did not publicly reveal why he'd made the decision, it came just hours after Azov Brigade Chief of Staff Bohdan Krotevych complained about Sodol first in a letter to the State Bureau of Investigation and then in a public post on Telegram, alleging the general had led far too many soldiers to their deaths.
"I wrote a letter to the SBI calling for an investigation into one military general who, in my opinion, killed more Ukrainian soldiers than any Russian general," Krotevych posted. "I don't care if they start an investigation against me and I don't care if they put me in jail. Combatants and brigade commanders are judged for the loss of an observation post, but the general is not judged for the loss of regions and dozens of cities and the loss of thousands of soldiers."
Krotevych went on to applaud the "heroism" of those on the ground fighting against Russia, and though he didn't mention Sodol by name, he claimed that, "all the military now understand what kind of person I'm talking about, because 99 percent of the military hate him for what he does."
"This person initiates investigations against commanders who advance and do not lose ground," he added, "but he does not initiate official investigations against himself."
As the New York Times reports, Ukrainian parliamentarian and defense committee member Mariana Bezuhla confirmed that Krotevych had been referring to Sodol.
"The head of the Eastern Front, General Sodol, 'killed' more Ukrainian soldiers than any Russian general. Mariupol, Krynky, Avdiyivka, Ocheretyne, Vovchansk," she wrote in a post on Telegram. "Will this continue? Do the military have to rally on the basis of hatred for their leader? Do we really have to lose people and territories? Is that how it works? Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, do you really care if this is your idea?"
This is the first major shakeup in Ukrainian military leadership since February, when Zelensky replaced commanding general Valery Zaluzhny with Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, who went on to appoint Sodol.
