KYIV, July 21 — The shift is unmistakable. Ukraine is on the verge of replacing its top military commander for the second time since the full-scale Russian invasion began, and the signals have been building for over a year now. Oleksandr Syrskyi, appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on February 8, 2024, is expected to be dismissed following sustained public pressure that first erupted into the streets last summer.
That pressure took the form of a week of public protests in Kyiv and other cities, beginning in early July 2025. The demonstrators demanded change in military leadership, and their grievances were rooted in tangible battlefield realities: stalled front-line operations and what the source describes as high casualties.
The protests didn’t materialise out of nowhere. They followed months of internal friction between Syrskyi’s command and civilian leadership, particularly over mobilization and defensive tactics — a tension that had been simmering since well before the protests began.
The Commander’s Record
Syrskyi, who turns 60 on July 26, 1965, is hardly a new face in Ukraine’s war effort. He served as Commander of Ukrainian Ground Forces from 2019 to 2024, a role that placed him at the centre of some of the war’s most consequential operations. His record includes the Kharkiv counteroffensive in September 2022, a stunning reversal that pushed Russian forces back from large swaths of the northeast.
It also includes the prolonged and grinding battle for Bakhmut in 2023, a fight that became a symbol of brutal attrition warfare. That mixed legacy — a spectacular offensive win followed by a devastating defensive slog — has shaped perceptions of his command.
The shift in public sentiment from the heady days of the Kharkiv operation to the protests of 2025 tells a story of war fatigue and mounting frustration with a front that has largely stalled.
A Pattern of Leadership Change
If Syrskyi is dismissed, it will mark the second change in top military leadership since the full-scale Russian invasion began on February 24, 2022. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi in February 2024, bringing in Syrskyi as his replacement. That change was itself a major shake-up, and the potential removal of Syrskyi now suggests the leadership churn is far from over.
Zelenskyy has not publicly commented on Syrskyi’s status. That silence, in a political environment where public communication from the presidency is frequent and carefully calibrated, is itself a signal.
Watch this space. The Presidential Office is reportedly considering candidates, and the two names in circulation point to very different approaches.
The Candidates
Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, is one of the candidates reportedly under consideration. Budanov has built a reputation for unconventional operations and intelligence-driven warfare, operating in a different sphere from conventional military command. The other name is Lt. Gen. Mykhailo Drapatyi, a career military officer.
The contrast between the two suggests the leadership question is not just about who commands the army — it’s about what kind of war Ukraine intends to fight in the next phase. The trend underneath this shake-up is a broader crisis of resources and strategy.
Ukraine faces critical shortages of ammunition and manpower. Russia, meanwhile, continues offensives in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions. The combination — dwindling supplies at home, relentless pressure from Moscow — puts enormous strain on any commander, regardless of their reputation.
What’s changing here is not just one general’s career. The internal friction that has dogged Syrskyi’s tenure — disputes with civilian leadership over how to mobilize troops and where to commit defensive resources — reflects a deeper struggle over Ukraine’s war strategy.
The next commander will inherit those same unresolved questions, along with the battlefield challenges that triggered the protests in the first place. The coming weeks will determine whether a change at the top can shift the trajectory of a war that has entered a grinding, positional phase. What to watch next: whether Zelenskyy breaks his silence, which candidate emerges, and how Russia’s offensives in Donetsk and Kharkiv evolve in response to a Ukrainian command transition.
The trend underneath is clear — Ukraine is searching for a new formula, and it’s willing to change leadership to find one.
