For more than two decades, Lt. Gen. Pavlo Tkachuk helped shape the officers who would go on to lead Ukraine’s army. As head of the Hetman Petro Sahaidachnyi National Ground Forces Academy in Lviv, Tkachuk oversaw the training of generations of Ukrainian officers at one of the country’s most prestigious military institutions. The academy traces its origins to 1899, when an Austrian Infantry Cadet School was established in Lviv.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. But after years of complaints, investigations and allegations of misconduct surrounding the academy, Tkachuk was removed from his post in December 2024. The fight over his legacy has since become part of a broader debate inside Ukraine’s military. Well into the fifth year of Russia’s full-scale invasion, officers and military reformers alike are increasingly asking whether Soviet-era leadership styles and entrenched patronage networks continue to hinder the modernization of the Ukrainian army. “I believe that generals like Tkachuk directly hinder Ukraine’s ability to win the war because they occupy critical leadership positions while failing to reform institutions under their control,” said Ivan Halenko, a Ukrainian army officer and former academy cadet who studied there from 2020 to 2024. A Soviet-trained officer who later became a lieutenant general and academic, Tkachuk spent more than two decades leading the academy while also serving in regional politics.