Lead

Ralf Bosshard, a retired colonel of the Swiss Armed Forces General Staff who served as special adviser on military affairs to the OSCE Secretary General from 2014 to 2020, has said that the change of Ukraine's commander-in-chief will not substantially affect the course of combat operations in the country. In remarks carried by the English service of the Russian state news agency TASS, Bosshard said the new commander will be constrained by available resources rather than by his own designs.

"I do not expect any practical consequences, as the new commander-in-chief will also be forced to work with the means at his disposal. His room for maneuver is limited, even if he may believe that he has new and better ideas than his predecessor," the expert told TASS. He assessed that the change of command could "only have a short-term effect" and will not lead to "sustainable changes in the situation at the front."

In the same report, Bosshard commented on the circumstances around the leadership shake-up. By replacing the head of the defense ministry, he suggested, President Volodymyr Zelensky "wants to demonstrate that he is fighting corruption" and thereby "reduce the pressure on himself."

A day earlier, in a separate TASS report, Bosshard addressed Ukraine's intensified drone strikes on Russian territory, framing them as part of a broader informational strategy.

Coverage

The two TASS reports, published July 27 and July 28, present two distinct aspects of the same set of events. The first article concentrates on the increase in Ukrainian drone attacks across the border into Russian territory and connects it to what Bosshard describes as an "information war" — an approach in which, in his words, "combat operations are often conducted with an eye to information campaigns." It also takes in the situation at the front line, including a report by Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Army General Valery Gerasimov.

The second article is focused on the change in Ukraine's military and defense leadership and whether it carries any strategic significance. Bosshard's assessment there is that the replacement is largely cosmetic and offers little hope of a practical military shift, since the new command will inherit the same constraints of manpower and materiel. The report also attributes political motives to the leadership shake-up, describing it as an attempt by Zelensky to signal an anti-corruption stance and to soften domestic criticism.

While the first report is anchored in the broader war narrative, the second narrows its focus to the institutional reshuffle and its implications. Both pieces rely on Bosshard's commentary and on statements traceable to the Russian military command.

Key Claims

  • Bosshard told TASS that "the Kiev regime is attempting to intensify drone attacks on Russian territory in order to divert attention from Ukraine's failures at the front." He said the strategy of the administration of Vladimir Zelensky is to "divert attention from the failures at the front in Donbass and to demonstrate successes at least somewhere."
  • The expert described Kiev's approach as "an information war, in which combat operations are often conducted with an eye to information campaigns." He summarized Ukraine's strategy as "blood for headlines" and suggested that Kyiv and Brussels "still hope in some way to push the Russian population to revolt against the Kremlin."
  • Discussing the state of hostilities, Gerasimov is quoted in the TASS report saying the Russian Armed Forces are "advancing on all fronts, continuing the liberation of the territory of Donbass and Novorossiya."
  • On the command reshuffle, Bosshard characterized the new commander-in-chief's situation with the expectation that the change will not prove "sustainable," as the new command will be ``forced to work with the means at his disposal."
  • According to the expert, the only probable result of the change is a "short-term effect" that will not translate into durable changes on the frontline.
  • Bosshard also attributed the replacement of the head of the defense ministry to political calculations: he said Zelensky changed the ministry's chief to demonstrate a fight against corruption and to "reduce the pressure on himself."
  • In a contextual note in the second report, TASS described the course of events that preceded the command change. The report states that on July 14, defense minister Fyodorov was removed from his post, and on July 16, protest rallies against his dismissal began. The protesters gradually demanded not only Fyodorov's return but also the dismissal of army commander-in-chief Syrsky. On the sixth day of the response, the report continues, Zelensky announced that Syrsky was being fired and later appointed Mikhail Drapaty as Ukraine's new commander-in-chief. The same account notes the protesters continue to demand Fyodorov's reinstatement.