GENICHESK, August 3. /TASS/. The appointment of Mikhail Drapaty as the Ukrainian army’s commander-in-chief has exacerbated disagreements among the Ukrainian southern group of forces’ service members and provoked a negative reaction among the personnel, Vladimir Vasilenko, the press secretary of the Kherson Region’s governor, said.

"The change of the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces has not resolved, but rather significantly exacerbated disagreements between service members of various units of the Ukrainian southern group of forces. Mikhail Drapaty’s appointment caused a very negative reaction among the personnel who remember well his command methods in the Kherson sector: harsh pressure on subordinates, disregard for human losses, and a desire to achieve goals at any cost," he told reporters.

Vasilenko added that Drapaty earned a reputation among the fighters as a "meat general."

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.