Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appointed Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi as the new commander-in-chief of the country’s armed forces. The appointment, announced on Tuesday, follows the dismissal of General Oleksandr Syrskyi after days of widespread protests in Kyiv and other cities. Demonstrators had demanded the removal of Syrskyi, arguing that he represented an outdated, Soviet-style command culture, and had called for the reinstatement of former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who is widely regarded as a champion of military modernization.
In a public statement posted to Facebook, Drapatyi acknowledged his predecessor’s efforts in strengthening the military. “I grew up in it,” he wrote, referring to the army. “I will work responsibly, with focus and with respect for the people defending our state today.”
At 43, Drapatyi is viewed as a member of a new generation of Ukrainian generals whose leadership was forged during the country’s long-standing conflict with Russia. He has spent nearly his entire career in combat-focused roles, including leading the Joint Forces, which oversee day-to-day operations across all branches of the military. Known for his intense discipline and effectiveness, he is frequently deployed to stabilize the most precarious sectors of the front line. While he has maintained a low public profile, he has earned significant respect within the military for his past successes.
Drapatyi’s reputation was established early in the conflict in 2014. In May of that year, while serving as a major and commanding a battalion of the 72nd Brigade, he led an armored column into central Mariupol to rescue police and territorial defense officials who were besieged by pro-Russian militants threatening to burn them alive. During the mission, when the column encountered a barricade over a meter high, Drapatyi, who was in the lead vehicle, ordered his driver to accelerate. The vehicle successfully bounced over the barrier, a moment captured on video that became a symbol of the early Ukrainian resistance. At a time when the Ukrainian army was largely untested, poorly equipped, and hesitant to take actions that might escalate tensions, this move was considered a remarkably bold and independent decision by a field officer.
Later in 2014, Drapatyi’s battalion spent weeks encircled by Russian-backed forces near the border. Rather than surrendering, he led 260 soldiers and more than 30 vehicles out of the pocket under the cover of night. Over the following decade, he continued to rise through field commands, leading brigades in eastern Ukraine and serving as deputy Joint Forces commander when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
His operational record includes commanding forces that halted the Russian advance on Kryvyi Rih in 2024, helping push Russian troops back from parts of the Kherson region, and organizing the defense that blunted a renewed Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region that same year. Zelenskyy subsequently named him ground forces commander, though he resigned from that post after a Russian strike on a training center killed numerous soldiers. At the time, Drapatyi took personal responsibility, stating he was unable to ensure his orders were followed and that he had been blocked from reforming the branch by officials protecting one another from accountability. He was later appointed commander of the Joint Forces.
Drapatyi’s willingness to challenge the status quo became more public recently. Former Defense Minister Fedorov stated that the military leadership had resisted reform and pressured commanders who pushed for change, noting that Drapatyi had received three reprimands from Syrskyi. Drapatyi responded by supporting the Defense Ministry’s leadership, agreeing that many changes were implemented “despite the system, rather than thanks to how it worked.” He added that a commander’s silence “has never been a form of responsibility.”
Born in 1982 in Kamianets-Podilskyi, in the Khmelnytskyi region, to a family of teachers, Drapatyi trained as a tank officer at the Kharkiv Institute of Tank Troops. He graduated in 2004 and was assigned to the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade in Bila Tserkva, which was commanded at the time by Syrskyi.
