Ukrainian Sergeant Majors Clash Over Commanders' 'Incompetence'

As Kyiv continues its counteroffensive to retake territory occupied by Russia, senior Ukrainian army personnel have clashed in a disagreement over the actions of their commanders.

The spat started when Sergeant Major Valerii Markus, from Ukraine's 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade, asked to be demoted on Monday because he disagreed with his brigade's command.

Markus believed the work of his brigade sergeant corps was being undermined, that its command did not understand the importance of troop morale and that the "incompetence" of senior officers was going unpunished.

In a Facebook post, he said he was "totally opposed to the decisions being taken by the command of his brigade, which is engaged in operations on the southern front in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

"We haven't been allowed to develop the military unit in line with the values we have stated at the time it was being created," he said. "I no longer have opportunities to influence or rectify the situation."

He added that while "it was no longer appropriate" to remain sergeant major, "I can't abandon my people, so I'm voluntarily taking the lower rank to be close to them on the battlefield."

However, Rustam Mustafaiev, sergeant major of the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade's strike company, questioned Markus' motives for the outburst, accusing him of "trying to promote himself on the back of other people's blood," online news outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported.

Mustafaiev also rejected Markus' criticism of the brigade's command, saying that it worked hard to "ensure the most favorable conditions" for the unit and understood the importance of soldiers' morale.

Meanwhile, the brigade's commander, Oleksandr Sak, called for unity.

"In these difficult days," Sak wrote on Telegram, troops should "put aside conflicts, resentment and disputes and increase our efforts" in the fight against Russia.

Newsweek has emailed the Ukrainian defense ministry for comment about the dispute.

In a Facebook video on June 28, Markus described a day of assaults and a night spent alongside the bodies of dead Russian soldiers. Underneath the post was a rebuke from Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, urging him to put on his body armor.

That same week, Markus met with Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky, who wrote on Telegram that the pair discussed "decent" salaries for sergeants in line with their experience and the need for up-to-date battlefield equipment.

The spat comes as Ukrainian forces continued counteroffensive operations in the Bakhmut, Melitopol and Berdyansk directions on Wednesday and made gains in some areas, the Institute for the Study of War said.