Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused two top generals on Thursday of being “traitors and “antiheroes.”
Zelenskyy made the charges as he made public the news that he fired both military commanders, stripping them of their ranks.
The two generals are Naumov Andriy Olehovych, chief of the Main Department of Internal Security of the Security Service of Ukraine, and Kryvoruchko Serhiy Oleksandrovych, head of the Office of the Security Service of Ukraine for the Kherson region, according to the Washington Examiner.
"Today, another decision was made regarding antiheroes. Now, I do not have time to deal with all the traitors. But gradually they will all be punished," Zelensky said during his nightly address on Thursday evening.
He also sounded an ominous note, warning other military leaders that if they violated their sworn oath they too would face severe punishment.
"Those servicemen among senior officers who have not decided where their homeland is, who violate the military oath of allegiance to the Ukrainian people as regards [to] the protection of our state, its freedom and independence, will inevitably be deprived of senior military ranks," Zelensky said.
"Random generals don't belong here!” he added.
Zelenskyy did not provide any further information about why the two generals were removed from their posts.