UKRAINE, Jul. 22 – When we talked to the military about Zelenskyy’s dismissal of Mykhailo Fedorov from the post of Defense Minister on Jul. 16, one soldier told us she doesn’t care about Fedorov at all. She believed infantry doesn’t feel the “improvements” in the army he’s known for.
It’s Syrskyi who needs to be dismissed, she said, adding, “When they do that, that’ll be an interesting article.”
Today, Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed Mykhailo Drapatyi as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, replacing Oleksandr Syrskyi. Drapatyi was one of the popular candidates for this role: an experienced commander who led the liberation of the right bank of Kherson in 2023 and oversaw the operation that pushed Russians out of Kupiansk last year.
When we asked the infantry woman what she thought about Drapatyi in this role, she said:
“He has combat experience, has been very close to different military units for a long time. He demonstrated, on multiple occasions, that he knows the value of human life. We’ll see how things will work on a strategic level (with him as a Commander-in-Chief), but we really have hope now.”
We asked different soldiers what they think of Mykhailo Drapatyi heading the Armed Forces, and gathered what is known about his life and work as a soldier and commander.
‘He knows what military needs’
Mykhailo Drapatyi was born on Nov. 21, 1982, in Kamianets-Podilskyi, Khmelnytskyi oblast. He studied at the Kharkiv Institute of Armored and began his military career in 2004, as a lieutenant of the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade. When Russia invaded in 2014, then-Major Drapatyi commanded the 2nd Mechanized Battalion of the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade.
In May 2014, Mykhailo Drapatyi’s battalion took part in the operation to liberate Mariupol (which was occupied by Russia eight years later). Drapatyi gave the order to keep moving through the blockade of pro-Russian forces. Then, in August, while surrounded and under constant shellings of Russian troops, reportedly led his entire unit out of the encirclement near Izvarino and Chervonopartizansk without losses.
“When my family and I saw the footage from Mariupol, of Major Drapatyi breaking through the blockade in an armored vehicle, it hit me hard, well, it was so cool,” said one air defense soldier from Kharkiv that we’ve spoken to for this article. He was a 12-year-old boy then. Now, he knows Drapatyi from his work.
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Drapatyi was serving as deputy commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine responsible for military training and became deputy chief of the General Staff for military training in 2024.
On May 11, 2024, he took command of the military group defending Kharkiv oblast during Russia’s renewed offensive. A day before, Russia launched its second ground offensive on Vovchansk and Lyptsi, pushing through Ukrainian northern defenses, 10 km deep into the region.
In September, Drapatyi was a commander of the military group operating along a section of the frontline from Bilohorivka village in Luhansk oblast to the New York village in Donetsk oblast. A month later, he was promoted to the rank of major general in recognition of his military service.
He became a commander of Ukrainian Ground Forces in November, but resigned less than a year later, on Jun. 1, 2025. Drapatyi submitted his resignation following a Russian missile strike on the 239th training ground that killed servicemembers of a training battalion. He said he was taking responsibility for the tragedy.
A soldier from an air defense unit told us, “For me, an appointment of the person who knows for certain that we must destroy Russians, who became a general in combat, during a full-scale war, advancing from the major rank, is very important. It’s progress. He knows how to fight Russians. He knows what the military needs.”
There is a “but”
In today’s post, Oleksandr Syrskyi wrote that his successor had inherited the army ‘on the offensive’. “It’s an army that has the initiative, an established command structure, and soldiers who know how to defeat the (Russian army).”
A sergeant serving in the Forces of Unmanned Systems with a call sign Saïd, shared an opposing statement with Gwara, “Drapatyi is a professional soldier, a renewed one, but there is a ‘but’. He received the Armed Forces in a catastrophic condition.”
Catastrophic, Saïd told us, was the failed mobilization and military units lacking personnel for them.
While Ukraine mobilizes, according to Come Back Alive analyst Anton Muraveinyk, 30,000 people per month. Recruitment offices, according to the analyst, mobilize many people “who shouldn’t participate in combat” because of their health, the documents that delay their enlistment, and so on. Only 8-9,000 of the mobilized people go to the frontline and can effectively join their brigades.
“At least there’s hope that combat units like 225th and Skelia (both assault regiments associated with Syrskyi) won’t be prioritized now, and we’ll at least have more or less democratic distribution of personnel,” Saïd said. There’s a probability, he added, that Drapatyi will be blamed for his predecessor’s mistakes.
All depends on how much power Drapatyi will be allowed to have, Saïd added, in contrast to Syrskyi’s absolute authority over the Armed Forces. “There’s also a chance that Syrskyi’s team will be obstructing things. To rework the existing army system, he’d have to replace about 40% of the upper command — those are the people who are loyal to Syrskyi.”
Don’t hope, and you won’t be disappointed, Saïd said.
‘Drapatyi and Fedorov can make Russia burn’
The air defense soldier we spoke to, on the other hand, was optimistic.
The best scenario for now, according to him, is if Zelenskyy returns Mykhailo Fedorov to the post of Defence Minister. That’s one of the demands of the country-wide protests that started on Jul. 16 — another, with Syrskyi’s dismissal, has already been fulfilled. Drapatyi and Fedorov together, the soldier believes, can make Russia burn.
“They have already worked together. It’s very important that the Minister of Defense is in synergy with the Commander-in-Chief. Because I’m sure that, together, they can solve both mobilization issues and recruitment offices issue (violent mobilization), and to make it so we’re fighting not using people, but technologies. Because if we’re swapping our drones for their infantry troops, believe me, we will win. As the practice shows, we can’t win head-on.”
Hi! It’s Yana, editor-in-chief of our Kharkiv-based newsroom, and our team has been working on this article while FPV drones and glide bombs were attacking our city. If you want to support our journalism, please consider giving us a $5 coffee for our security needs. And thank you for keeping your focus on Ukraine.
Read more
- ‘People are angrier because they are not heard’ — Protesters in Kharkiv keep demanding to return Fedorov as Defense Minister, call for dismissal of Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi
- ‘A blow to Ukraine’s ability to defend itself’ or ‘Who’s Fedorov?’ — What soldiers think about Minister of Defense’s dismissal
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