The deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine from the PP “Servant of the People” Maryana Bezugla reports on her official Facebook page that the deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Roman Mashovets is lobbying for the candidacy of Oleksandr Trepak for the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

I have previously written about how Roman, along with Arestovych, lobbied for Zaluzhnyi, and I have also mentioned lobbying for Ostashchenko and Kazmirchuk to be appointed to lead the Medical Forces. Considering these questionable recommendations and similar situations, I am once again compelled to highlight the risks and share some insights into who Mashovets really is.

So, where did Roman Mashovets come from? At one time, Roman was recommended as an advisor to the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense, and Intelligence by Ukrainian MP Ihor Kopytin, when he worked with the Main Directorate of Intelligence (MDI). I remember Roman coming to us, promising to establish cooperation with the Americans, transition to NATO standards, and assuring us of his extensive connections within the U.S. political establishment. When Andriy Yermak replaced Andriy Bohdan, the issue of replacing Bohdan’s deputy, Hanna Kovalenko, arose. She was lover at the time and later became the official spouse of Commander-in-Chief Khomchak.

To find a more professional candidate, Yermak, who had not yet had a falling-out with Committee Head Zavytnevych, sought a recommendation. Zavytnevych proposed the candidacies of Mashovets and Ihor Taburets, Burba’s deputy. In the end, Mashovets was appointed Yermak’s deputy, and Taburets was later appointed head of Cherkasy Oblast, under Zavytnevych’s oversight. Notably, Roman passed the polygraph test successfully and, in my modest observation, has rather patriotic views and isn’t a coward.

However, Roman primarily enjoys influencing personnel decisions and frequently engages in intrigues rather than establishing order in his areas of responsibility and reporting to the President. Despite having only around twenty officials in the PO’s Department of National Security under his supervision, who are overwhelmed with paperwork, he has never advocated for increasing the department’s size, fearing loss of control or the emergence of true experts who might lessen his significance. For example, in the Awards: the lack of clear rules, frequent loss of documents, and so on — no order has been established even after three years of full-scale invasion.

Mashovets has an obsessive interest in the Special Operations Forces (SOF) and constantly interferes in the personnel policy of this branch of the Armed Forces, not only at the command level but also at the middle ranks. Due to the position of SOF Internal Security Chief, held by one of his closest friends, he enjoys unethical privileges of access to the internal data of special forces personnel.

When Mashovets had a conflict with Viktor Khorenko, who was not fully “his person” and refused to dismiss people according to lists provided by Mashovets, Roman orchestrated a rather extensive intrigue to have Khorenko removed. Instead, Serhiy Lupanchuk, a staff officer without any combat experience, was appointed. Lupanchuk’s obvious incompetence quickly became apparent to everyone, and Mashovets’ next recommended candidate was Oleksandr Trepak.

Oleksandr Trepak is a military populist. He supports a culture of mutual protection within the SOF, avoids making complex and risky decisions, and prioritizes reports of “success” in combat missions over the missions themselves. Trepak supports using the SOF as elite infantry, expanding units that are not aligned with the SOF’s core tasks. In 2014, during the defense of Donetsk Airport, he performed well alongside paratroopers. However, as an intelligence officer, he failed to establish defense over an extended period and “quickly” executed the command to hand over the airport.

Trepak has come from the tactical level and lacks experience in leading combat at an operational-strategic level, not to mention managing logistics, training, coordination of hundreds of thousands of troops, and so on.

Trepak came from a tactical level and has no experience in commanding at the operational-strategic level, let alone organizing logistics, training, coordination of hundreds of thousands of troops, etc.

“Controlled”

And this is your candidate for Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Roman?