Maj Gen Mykhailo Drapatyi, 43, has replaced Oleksandr Syrskyi as Ukraine’s commander-in-chief – the third since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
His nomination has been welcomed by both civil society and the military. Drapatyi’s name was chanted during protests that started off backing his friend, ex-defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov, but ended up demanding Syrskyi’s dismissal.
“There’s no better person for this position nowadays in Ukraine,” one Ukrainian soldier told the BBC.
Drapatyi’s support rests on years of military experience in post-Soviet Ukraine, his skills as field general and his reputation for being a humane and strong commander among the military.
He graduated from the Kharkiv Institute of Tank Troops in 2004 and began serving as a lieutenant.
Ten years later he gained prominence when footage went viral showing his infantry fighting vehicle smashing through a makeshift barricade.
It was May 2014 and pro-Russian separatists had taken over parts of eastern Ukraine, when Drapatiy’s battalion entered the southern city of Mariupol to free hostages held in the city’s police department.
He later recalled being told there were barricades more than a metre high ahead and being asked what to do. “I said, let’s take it by storm. This video flew around the world,” he said in an interview.
Later that year, he was commended for withdrawing encircled Ukrainian units from a border area of the Luhansk region.
Drapatiy returned to university in 2021 for further operational and strategic training and was presented with a sword of honour as top graduate in June 2021 by British ambassador Melinda Simmons.
When Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022, Drapatiy was deputy commander of joint forces.
He led operational groups – temporary task forces – in several areas of the front line, successfully pushing back the advance of Russian troops towards Kryvyi Rih and liberating a number of settlements in the Kherson and Dnipropretrovsk regions.
By 2024 he was heading the land troops of the Ukrainian army and leading task forces in some of the east’s most intense combat areas.
Less than a year later, a training ground in the Dnipropetrovsk region was targeted by a Russian missile and 12 soldiers were killed and 60 others were wounded in the strike.
Drapatyi handed in his resignation the very same day, saying he took personal responsibility for the “conspiracy of silence and impunity” that had led to the deaths. “
“An army in which commanders bear personal responsibility for the lives of personnel keeps living. An army in which nobody is responsible for a loss dies,” he wrote.
It was seen as a sign of personal accountability, and Zelensky’s decision to instead appoint him commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was widely praised.
From then on, whispered rumours of tensions with Syrskyi grew louder.
“Drapatyi is a relatively young general. He is gifted. He was always sent to places where the situation was extremely difficult,” one unnamed officer told Ukrainian media in June 2025. “I do not think he has political ambitions. Yet I am sure his ambitions are not confined to the position of commander of the ground forces or the Joint Forces.”
Just over a year later, Syrskyi has gone, and hopes for Drapatyi are high.
“Drapatyi has a very good reputation among the rank and file – especially those who joined after 2022 as civilians,” says Mykola Bielieskov, senior analyst at the Ukrainian NGO Come Back Alive. But he notes Drapatyi will have to operate under serious constraints.
“The Commander-in-Chief has a lot of leverage. But war is a combination of government, the president’s office, military suppliers, dependence on [Western] partners… so he’s got a tricky path before him.”
Prospects of a ceasefire with Russia remain slim and Ukraine faces another harsh winter of war.
Mobilising manpower is a priority, and Drapatyi will also be expected to tackle the corruption that touches all levels of the army, from conscription officers to defence procurement.
Meanwhile, he will have to capitalise on Ukraine’s remarkable technological advances and the burgeoning tech defence industry that has spearheaded Ukraine’s recent battlefield successes.
In his first message after being appointed Commander-in-Chief, Drapatyi acknowledged the difficulty of his task and promised to work “without making loud promises, with responsibility for our decisions, and with respect” for those on the front line.
Many will be looking for a change from what was seen as Syrskyi’s “outdated” way of fighting, which placed little value on human life in favour of brutal offensives.
“It’s a major role and people will expect change quickly,” analyst Bielieskov said, warning against “oversimplification” that can lead to demand for sweeping improvements in an unrealistic length of time.
This has been echoed by former interior ministry adviser Oleksiy Kopytko. As commander-in-chief, he noted, “you are worshipped and loved by all today, not loved by everyone tomorrow, and are guilty of everything the day after tomorrow, with none of your achievements mattering”.
Valery Zaluzhnyi, who was removed as army chief in 2024, predicted that Drapatyi would “have a very difficult time. Much harder than he imagines”.
But among many soldiers and ordinary Ukrainians there is a tangible sense of excitement for the new shift in outlook that Drapatyi represents. One said that if Mykhailo Fedorov were reinstated as defence minister, his and Drapatyi’s leadership would be “Russia’s worst nightmare”.
When he resigned from his position in 2025, Drapatyi listed issues he had tackled in the Ground Forces – ranging from combat training reform to unfair mobilisation, corruption and flawed procurement systems.
“There is expected resistance, but efforts need to be stepped up,” he said at the time.
He will face similar problems in his new role – albeit on a much larger scale and under the eyes of the whole country.
Additional material by BBC Monitoring
