Ukraine appoints Drapatyi as army chief following defence ministry reshuffle
Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi takes command as Yevhen Khmara heads defence portfolio amid expert debate over democratic necessity and political risk.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appointed Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi as the new commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, replacing Oleksandr Syrskyi. The leadership change, announced on Tuesday, July 21, follows a significant cabinet reshuffle that saw the dismissal of Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. Fedorov was removed following a strategic dispute with Syrskyi regarding the direction of the war effort, and has been replaced by Yevhen Khmara, the former head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
The appointments come amidst public protests that demanded both Fedorov’s return and Syrskyi’s dismissal. While Syrskyi has been removed from his post, Fedorov will not be reinstated. Drapatyi, a decorated frontline commander, was the only general to publicly defend Fedorov after his dismissal, praising the Defence Ministry’s recent reforms and its willingness to listen to commanders.
Drapatyi, born in 1982, is a highly decorated major general who has distinguished himself as a battle-hardened commander since 2014. He coordinated the defence of Kryvyi Rih and the liberation of strategic areas in the south during the full-scale invasion, and is credited with stopping a Russian offensive near Kharkiv in 2024. He previously resigned as army commander in June 2025 following a missile strike on a training ground that killed at least 12 soldiers and injured more than 60 others, though Zelenskyy rejected this resignation.
Observers noted that Drapatyi’s tasking to defend the Kharkiv region in autumn 2025 was seen by some as a move to restrict his influence, with speculation that Syrskyi sought to sideline him as a rival. Military experts are divided on the reshuffle, with Oleksandr Khara viewing it as a democratic corrective and Oleksiy Melnyk criticising it as an unnecessary political crisis.
Zelenskyy has tasked Drapatyi with developing a modern defence strategy and continuing recently launched military reforms. The current Prime Minister is Sergii Koretskyi, who retained many ministers from the previous cabinet. The leadership change underscores the growing public pressure on the president to address personnel disputes within the military hierarchy.
