Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has sacked the country’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, after days of widespread protests against the removal of the country’s popular defense minister.
His replacement, Mykhailo Drapatyi, 43, is a younger general often described as representing a newer generation of military leaders who have forged their careers during the current war with Russia. The shake up comes after Zelensky last week fired defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov, 35, who had carved out a reputation for pioneering innovative approaches to technology and recruitment but clashed with other members of Ukraine’s defense establishment – including Syrskyi. Syrskyi, 60, was born in Russia’s Vladimir region, then part of the Soviet Union, and studied at a Moscow military school alongside classmates who went on to become Russian commanders. Some critics described him as unimaginative but capable, and he was criticized for extending the defense of Bakhmut at great human cost. His replacement, Drapatyi, was the commander of Ukraine’s Joint Forces, best-known for a viral 2014 video of him driving an armored infantry fighting vehicle through a separatist barricade in Mariupol. Drapatyi is a decorated figure within the Ukrainian military, having risen through the ranks to become one of the country’s most well-respected commanders. He was born in western Ukraine and attended a military school in Kharkiv – the city liberated by Ukrainian forces in 2022 after a brutal Russian occupation early in the war. After Russia launched its full-scale invasion, Drapatyi’s troops halted a Russian advance on the city of Kryvyi Rih – Zelensky’s hometown in central Ukraine – and “liberated” several settlements in the Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk regions, according to Kharkiv region’s council. In 2024, he was made commander of the Ukrainian Land Forces, one of the most senior posts in the Ukrainian army, before being appointed commander of the Joint Forces the following year.
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