War · From the edition of Jul 19, 2026
✳ Dated THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2026 ✳
SYRSKYI FIRED AS UKRAINE WAR CHIEF
as mounting battlefield strain forces Zelensky into a shake-up of the high command
KYIV, Dec. 31 — Oleksandr Syrskyi is out as Ukraine's commander-in-chief, an ouster traders priced at 71 per cent on Polymarket. The war's grimmest year claimed its top soldier.
Syrskyi took the job in early 2024, inheriting the popular Valery Zaluzhny and a front that only hardened. Costly defenses and slow retreats fed the whispers. By year's end, the wires say, the whispers won.
Zelensky now hunts for a general who can hold the line and the mood at once. Observers call it the hardest hire in Europe. The trenches, meanwhile, do not pause for a handover.
Source: Polymarket · 71% probability — View market ↗