SerpApi.Org
Volodymyr Zelensky has fired the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, bowing to public pressure after days of mass protests demanding his dismissal.
The Ukrainian president said late on Tuesday that he would replace Oleksandr Syrsky, the 60-year-old general who had led the military since 2024, with Maj Gen Mykhailo Drapatyi, the joint forces chief.
In his evening address to the Ukrainian public, Mr Zelensky said: “Together with Mykhailo, Yevhenii Khmara and Pavlo Palisa, we have agreed on how the configuration of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine should be reorganised.”
He added that he had discussed “ensuring a smooth handover” with the outgoing military chief. “All decisions will be formalised tomorrow,” he said.
Maj Gen Drapatyi thanked Mr Zelensky for offering him the role of commander-in-chief. “I will work responsibly, with focus and with respect for the people who are defending our country today,” he said on social media.
Thousands of people had taken to the streets in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities to call for the dismissal of Gen Syrsky and demand the reinstatement of Mykhailo Fedorov, the popular defence minister.
Mr Fedorov was fired abruptly last week amid a clash between his tech-first strategy and the old-guard military leadership of Col Gen Syrsky and other army top brass.
Protesters have been staging daily demonstrations in support of Mr Fedorov outside government buildings, and he has garnered support from military officials, with two senior officers resigning in protest at his removal.
The 35-year-old former defence minister has been credited with pushing forward reforms to modernise the Ukrainian army, and radically improving the position of Kyiv’s forces on the battlefield.
Meanwhile, Gen Syrsky had become increasingly unpopular because of the perception that he represented a Soviet-style command culture and used “meat-grinder” tactics.
He was nicknamed “the Butcher” for his attritional warfare tactics which led to heavy losses among Ukraine’s troops in the bloody and protracted Battle of Bakhmut which ran from around July 2022 to May 2023.
At a press conference after his dismissal, Mr Fedorov accused Gen Syrsky of hindering the progress of his reforms, which included rooting out corruption in defence procurement and overhauling controversial mobilisation efforts.
“Instead of finding a way to defeat Russia asymmetrically – which is the commander-in-chief’s job – he’s found a way of splitting our country,” Mr Fedorov said of Gen Syrsky as he renewed calls for the commander to step down.
Mr Zelensky said he had been forced to act as a mediator between the two officers, who he claimed could hardly even be in the same room as each other. “A president in wartime should not have to choose in such a situation, honestly,” he told journalists.
After days of silence, Gen Syrsky issued a public apology to Mr Fedorov on Monday, saying he was “surprised” to learn that there was a conflict between them.
“I regarded our relationship as a working one, one involving complex issues and differing positions,” he wrote in a column in the Militarnyi outlet, calling for national unity. “That is how it should be between two institutions during a major war.”
New commander praised ousted minister
Mr Zelensky reviewed a list of around 11 candidates to replace the commander-in-chief, Bloomberg reported this week, including Brig Gen Oleh Apostol, the commander of the Air Assault Forces, and Maj Gen Volodymyr Horbatiuk, deputy chief of the general staff.
Maj Gen Drapatyi, 44, whom the Ukrainian president met twice during the course of two days, had previously praised Mr Fedorov for his efforts to address problems that “the system has grown accustomed to ignoring”.
“The military needs change, but without justice, no change will make sense to the people who carry this war on their shoulders every day,” he wrote on social media last week in support of the ousted defence minister.
Congratulating Maj Gen Drapatyi on his appointment, Mr Fedorov wrote on Telegram: “This is new air and new hope in the struggle of free people for freedom and justice. The voice of change that could not be ignored.”
Mr Zelensky also announced in his evening address that he had offered Mr Fedorov a “prominent” role overseeing Ukraine’s technology sector. Mr Fedorov is understood not yet to have accepted the post.
According to Ukrainian media reports, the former defence minister said he would only accept reinstatement in that role. The post has been occupied since last week by Maj Gen Yevhenii Khmara, formerly a top official in the Security Service of Ukraine.
