80th brigade commander promised promotion after commanders speak out against dismissal.

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Emil Ishkulov, commander of Ukraine's 80th Air Assault Brigade, will be promoted to a higher position, the command of Air Assault Forces said on July 29 after an appeal from high-ranking officers opposed to his imminent dismissal. Earlier in the day, Ukrainska Pravda published an address from the brigade, in which commanders called on Ukraine's political and military leadership to keep Ishkulov in his post. The address was reportedly provoked by the officers finding out about plans to dismiss the commander.

"We don't understand why commanders who have unquestioned authority among the personnel, who have a victorious combat record and experience of a big war, are out of favor to the top leadership of the Armed Forces," the commanders said in the video. The reason for Ishkulov's dismissal was that he "opposed a task that didn't correspond to the brigade's strength," Ukrainska Pravda wrote without specifying its sources. Soon after, the command of Air Assault Forces said that this information was "inaccurate" and contained "incorrect interpretations."

Praising Ishkulov's "invaluable experience," the military said that the colonel would be promoted to a higher position by the military leadership. "This will allow him to apply his knowledge, skills and leadership qualities gained during the planning and organization of combat operations on the scale of the Air Assault Forces of Ukraine's Armed Forces," the statement read. This is the second appeal in recent weeks by the Ukrainian military in support of a brigade commander allegedly about to be removed.

On July 15, soldiers from Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade spoke out to oppose the dismissal of its commander, Ivan Holishevskyi. Last month, President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Commander of the Joint Forces Lieutenant General Yurii Sodol. Lieutenant Colonel Bohdan Krotevych, one of the Azov Brigade's commanders, said on June 23 that he filed an official complaint to the State Bureau of Investigation calling for an investigation into a high-ranking general, later confirmed to be Sodol, who was accused of being responsible for the deaths "of more Ukrainian soldiers than any Russian general."

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