LUGANSK, August 5. /TASS/. Changes in Ukrainian army chiefs lead to a loss of control over military forces, and this is why Ukrainian troops are losing control over important and major settlements, military expert Vitaly Kiselyov told TASS.

According to him, Ukrainian troops are fleeing from settlements with layered defenses. As an example, he cited the liberation of the heavily fortified town of Konstantinovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic by the Russian Army in early July.

"Despite the established fortifications, the Ukrainian troops are fleeing from their positions, leaving cities and towns. It also means that the command and control system has been lost. Judging by the leadership, either by [Mikhail] Drapaty [Ukrainian army commander-in-chief, appointed on July 21] or [Alexander] Syrsky [ex-Ukrainian army commander-in-chief], each one of them has their own favorites, their own units; some of them follow orders, some do not follow others’ directives, while some show leniency. It turns out eventually that they flee," Kiselyov said.

The Russian military expert added that the situation in the Ukrainian army is also complicated by the fact that it is controlled from the outside by "curators from the NATO bloc."

On July 4, Mikhail Fyodorov was removed from office as the Ukrainian defense minister, also because of a conflict with the commander-in-chief, Alexander Syrsky. On July 16, rallies erupted in Ukrainian cities against Fyodorov's resignation. The protesters demanded that Fyodorov be reinstated, and Syrsky be dismissed. On the sixth day of the protests, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky announced he was dismissing Syrsky and appointing Drapaty to that post. The latter assumed the office on July 21.