“I have decided that Mykhailo Drapatyi will become the new commander-in-chief.” With that sentence on July 21, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ended Oleksandr Syrskyi’s tenure at the head of Ukraine’s armed forces. Ukrainska Pravda reported that the decision arrived after six straight days of street protests.
The trigger was not a battlefield defeat. It was a reshuffle that cost Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov his job. Demonstrators in a dozen-plus cities demanded his reinstatement and Syrskyi’s removal in the same breath, and Defense News reported that many of them chanted Drapatyi’s name. Zelenskyy thanked Syrskyi for his service. Syrskyi is to move into a different service role once the handover is complete.
Two command philosophies
The catch is that the protesters were not really arguing about one man. They were arguing about how the army is run. Syrskyi, born in 1965, came up through Soviet military ranks and led forces in the defence of Kyiv and the Kharkiv counteroffensive. Critics, according to the Kyiv Independent, pointed to a rigid, centralised style. After the 2023 Battle of Bakhmut, troops gave him the nickname “the butcher,” and units reportedly disobeyed orders at Avdiivka to avoid heavier losses.
Drapatyi, 43, stands for the opposite approach: decentralised decisions, more initiative for junior officers, and officers who answer for results. Defense News described a career tank officer with more than 20 years of service, who took charge of the Ground Forces in November 2024. His record includes the defence of Kryvyi Rih, the liberation of Kherson and the response to Russia’s 2024 Kharkiv offensive.
He also has a nickname of his own. “The Flying BMP” comes from a viral video of him driving an armoured vehicle through a Russian roadblock in Mariupol in 2014.
A record of owning losses
One episode explains the protesters’ trust better than any biography. After a Russian missile killed 12 soldiers at a training facility, Drapatyi took personal responsibility and offered his resignation. “An army where no one is responsible for the losses is dying from within,” he said. Zelenskyy refused it.
He backed Fedorov’s reform agenda in public too. “The military needs change and a commander has no right to remain silent,” he said. On taking the post he promised to lead “with responsibility, with focus, and with respect for people defending our state.”
Ukrainska Pravda listed his early priorities: protecting Ukrainian airspace, reforming mobilisation and updating the national defence strategy.
The political ledger is less tidy. Fedorov was offered a post overseeing the development of technological capabilities, but Defense News reported that he turned down alternative roles and will reportedly return only as defence minister. Syrskyi’s next assignment has not been named.
Sources
- Zelensky dismisses Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi amid widespread protests
- Who is Mykhailo Drapatyi? 'The Flying BMP' who now leads Ukraine's military
- Mykhailo Drapatyi to become new commander-in-chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces
