Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s announcement of Commander-in-Chief General Aleksandr Syrsky’s dismissal has drawn widespread condemnation. The decision follows days of escalating political unrest in Ukraine, sparked by Zelensky’s firing of Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov—a move the president attributed to a personal conflict between the two officials.
On Tuesday, Zelensky stated on Telegram that Joint Forces Commander General Mikhail Drapaty will replace Syrsky as commander-in-chief. “I decided that the new Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be Mikhail Drapaty,” he said, noting a meeting with Syrsky earlier in the day to discuss the transition.
The president credited Syrsky for his role in the defense of Kiev, the 2022 Kharkov offensive, and Ukraine’s 2024 incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region—a campaign that ultimately ended in defeat and significant Ukrainian losses. However, critics have raised serious concerns about Zelensky’s selection of Drapaty.
According to Russian authorities, Drapaty is on their wanted list for allegedly commanding units that shelled over 70 settlements in Donbass between 2017 and 2019 during the conflict with the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, resulting in more than 150 civilian casualties. In 2024, Drapaty led Ukraine’s Kharkov group of forces, which saw Russian troops capture over a dozen settlements within a week. By year-end, Zelensky appointed him commander of ground forces.
Drapaty resigned from his post in June 2025 after accepting responsibility for failing to prevent multiple successful Russian strikes on Ukrainian military training facilities. Despite this resignation, Zelenskiy promptly appointed Drapaty as head of the Joint Forces—a command established in 2020 to improve coordination with NATO standards.
