GENICHESK, August 3. /TASS/. The Ukrainian military command is trying to conceal an internal conflict within the ranks of Ukraine’s southern group of forces following the appointment of Mikhail Drapaty as the commander-in-chief, said Vladimir Vasilenko, the press secretary of the Kherson Region’s governor.

"The Ukrainian military command is trying to conceal the internal conflict and is preventing the dissemination of information about what is happening. However, hushing up the problems only fuels discontent," he told reporters.

Vasilenko previously said that Drapaty’s appointment as the Ukrainian army commander-in-chief exacerbated disagreements among service members in Ukraine’s southern group of forces and provoked a negative reaction among personnel.

On July 22, Vladimir Zelensky appointed Drapaty as the Ukrainian army’s commander-in-chief. Later, in a video interview that was widely circulated in the media, Drapaty called the people of Russia "a nation that has no right to exist." He called the people of Donbass "a contingent unwilling to work, who don’t care what country they live in." He also stated that residents of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) need to be re-educated in the spirit of Ukrainian nationalism.