Who is Mykhailo Drapatyi, Ukraine's new commander-in-chief? 43, is seen as a "humane and strong" military leader Maj Gen Mykhailo Drapatyi, 43, has replaced Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, 60, 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 port 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 Ukraine's Ground Forces fighting 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.To many, it was a rare sign of personal accountability by a top military leader. President Volodymyr Zelensky's decision to accept Drapatyi's resignation but appoint him commander of the Joint Forces was widely praised. From then on, whispered rumours of tensions with Syrskyi grew louder.
"Drapatyi is a relatively young general. 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.
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