Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) Oleksandr Syrsky publicly apologized to former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov in a rare personal column, saying he did not know there was a conflict between them until it spilled into public view.Syrsky published the column himself, explaining that he typically avoids public statements, but felt compelled to respond after his initial silence was increasingly read as agreement with claims of sabotage and dysfunction surrounding the army and General Staff.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.“For me, it was a surprise to learn that the minister and I had a conflict. I saw our relationship as a working one, with difficult questions and different positions. That is how it should be between two institutions during a great war,” Syrsky wrote.“If I offended someone with something: Mykhailo Albertovych [Fedorov], I’m sorry. I can be tough,” he continued. “But I ask you, and everyone following this story with such enthusiasm, to focus not on the personal but on the global one. On victory.”Syrsky warns against personalizing the warReducing the war to rivalry between two individuals plays directly into Russia’s hands, Syrsky said, adding that “Ukraine is bigger than Fedorov, Syrsky, or any of us,” and that the country holds together precisely because of its army, institutions and millions of other people doing their jobs – not because any of them is irreplaceable.He warned against Ukrainians splitting into a “Fedorov camp” and a “Syrsky camp,” describing the emerging issue as far more complicated than social media suggests. “This war will be won by real work, not by the public drama around it,” he continued.