Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed army commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, replacing him with battle-hardened general Mykhailo Drapatyi after six days of street protests swept the country over the removal of Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. The shake-up resolves, at least temporarily, a political crisis that exposed a bitter rift between Ukraine’s civilian defence leadership and its military brass at a moment when rising casualties and stalled peace talks have intensified public pressure on the government.
Fedorov’s ousting last week ignited widespread anger. Protesters filled streets in several Ukrainian cities for six days, demanding accountability and a more effective military strategy as Ukrainian casualties rose and public criticism of Zelensky’s handling of the war effort mounted. Separately, the United Nations documented 1,396 civilians killed and 7,978 wounded in Ukraine during the first six months of 2026, a 37 percent increase from the same period the previous year. Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that the toll had almost doubled what the unit documented in 2024.
A clash over reform
The conflict was personal. Fedorov, 35, had publicly accused Syrskyi of blocking his reform efforts and sabotaging his work on drone innovation and greater reliance on technology. Syrskyi, 60, was widely viewed as a Soviet-school commander reluctant to implement radical changes in the army. Initial rumours that Fedorov’s removal stemmed from a conflict between the two men were soon confirmed. Fedorov had been appointed defence minister only in January but was widely praised for energising the ministry, transforming the armed forces, and leading a drive against corruption. A former minister of digital transformation, he set up a volunteer “IT Army of Ukraine” to launch cyber-attacks against Russia from the early days of the full-scale invasion. He later led a successful fundraising campaign called the Army of Drones and introduced elements of “gamification” to the war effort, designing a system that awarded Ukrainian military units credits for hitting Russian assets.
Syrskyi addressed the tensions in an op-ed published Monday on the Militarny website. He wrote that he perceived his relationship with Fedorov as a working one. “If I offended anyone, Mykhailo Albertovych [Fedorov], I’m sorry,” he wrote. On the protests, Syrskyi said the issues of military contracts, procurement, and mobilisation being aired in the press and boiled down to pithy slogans by demonstrators were far more complicated than most people realised. “Decisions on which people’s lives depend are not made with slogans,” he wrote. “Real work, not the public drama surrounding it, wins the war.”
Drapatyi takes command
Zelensky named Drapatyi, 43, to lead the military, describing the decision as a “reset” of the ongoing defence against Russia’s invading troops. Drapatyi is a popular, battle-hardened general. He was praised for his role in stopping Russia’s advances during the 2014 invasion of eastern Ukraine, and in 2024 he took command of forces that halted Russia’s advance on Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih, helped push Russian troops back from parts of the Kherson region, and organised the defence that blunted a renewed Russian offensive in Kharkiv.
“I will work responsibly, with full focus, and with respect for the people who are defending our country today,” Drapatyi said on Facebook. He also thanked Syrskyi “for his consistent work to strengthen the Ukrainian army,” adding, “I grew up in it.” Drapatyi is thought to be a close friend of Fedorov’s, and Fedorov’s endorsement of his appointment is likely to help defuse the political crisis of the past week. Fedorov congratulated Drapatyi, describing the appointment as “new hope in the fight of free people for freedom and justice” and “the voice of change that could not be ignored.” He said he had called Syrskyi to thank him for the defence of the Kyiv region and other “historic battles.” But Fedorov added that Ukraine needed to move even faster and write new chapters correcting all previous mistakes.
Zelensky, in a video post on social media late on Tuesday, thanked Syrskyi for his military campaigns, including his role in successfully defending Kyiv during the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. “I am grateful to Oleksandr Syrskyi and to every one of our warriors for Ukraine’s strong front-line positions,” Zelensky said. “I am grateful to Mykhailo Drapatyi for holding that same view.” He added that the shared wish was “victory over the enemy and conditions at the front and in pressure on Russia that would force Russia toward peace.”
Zelensky also revealed that he had met Fedorov earlier in the day and offered him what he called “a respected position in the government that would unify the country’s technology sector.” It was not clear whether Fedorov had accepted. Fedorov was replaced as defence minister last week by Yevhenii Khmara, a former top official at Ukraine’s Security Service, who remains in the position on an acting basis. Zelensky has asked Khmara and Drapatyi to develop a new defence strategy covering key issues such as reforming the military corps system, weapons supply, and drones. “All decisions will be formalised tomorrow,” Zelensky added in his post.
The broader war continues to intensify. Both Moscow and Kyiv have escalated air strikes in recent months, targeting each other’s vital infrastructure, as United States-led talks on ending Russia’s invasion remain stalled with Washington’s focus largely turned toward its war on Iran. Russia has frequently used ballistic missiles, while Kyiv is currently short of Patriot interceptor munitions crucial to defending against such attacks. In retaliation, Ukraine has intensified strikes on Russian territory, mainly targeting oil depots. A series of Ukrainian drone attacks killed at least eight warehouse workers in Russia on Saturday and injured dozens more, while another attack caused a fire at an oil depot outside Moscow.
Syrskyi has so far not publicly commented on the latest developments.