Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ousted the chief of the General Staff, a day after replacing Ukraine’s top military commander, the latest in a series of major changes to the country’s defense leadership.
Major General Ihor Skybyuk will take over from his boss, Lieutenant General Andriy Hnatov, Zelenskyy announced on July 22.
The shuffle caps a week of major personnel decisions by Zelenskyy that have roiled military command, as well as at the Defense Ministry, where Defense Minister Mykhaylo Fedorov’s ouster prompted days of public protests.
The political swirl comes as Ukrainian troops have battled Russian forces to a near-standstill along the 1,100-kilomеter frontline in a war now well into its fifth year.
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Ukraine has also been buoyed by a medium- and long-range drone campaign that has devastated some Russian logistics – particularly around the occupied peninsula of Crimea – and squeezed Russian oil refineries, causing widespread gasoline shortages.
Credit for the drone campaign -- and for Ukraine’s rapid embrace of new technology and tactics -- has gone in large part to Fedorov, a tech-minded whiz-kid who was seen as a break from old-school military thinking.
Mykhaylo Fedorov served as defense minister for only about six months.
But Fedorov, 35, clashed with some of the old-guard military veterans at the General Staff, including General Oleksandr Syrskiy, Ukraine’s top commander. On July 15, amid a wider Cabinet shuffle, Zelenskyy ousted Fedorov about six months into his tenure.
Fedorov later accused Syrskiy of impeding what he said were necessary reforms, particularly regarding contracts with defense manufacturers.
His sacking sparked days of public protests in Kyiv and elsewhere, a sign of his support in the wider public, as well as a sign of Ukrainians' engagement in the often-opaque government decision-making.
On July 21, after days of growing rumors, Zelenskyy dismissed Syrskiy, replacing him with the commander of Ukraine’s land forces, Major General Mykhaylo Drapatiy.
In a statement released about 10 hours after the announcement of his removal, Syrskiy defended his tenure as commander, and pointed to some of the reforms he oversaw.
“I said it before and I will repeat it today: my job is war. Positions change, but this principle does not. Whatever my status, I will serve Ukraine until victory," he said in a post on Telegram.
General Oleksandr Syrskiy had been Ukraine's top military commander since February 2024.
For many Ukrainians, Syrskiy’s replacement -- Drapatiy -- is respected for his decision to tender his resignation in June 2025 after a Russian ballistic missile hit a training ground, killing 12 soldiers.
That attack was seen as a breach of command protocol, since officers had been warned against holding training ceremonies that might be targeted by Russian missiles.
When Syrskiy was appointed commander-in-chief, the man he replaced was Valeriy Zaluzhniy, a respected general who, like Syrskiy, was hailed for critical decisions in the early days of the February 2022 Russian invasion.
Zaluzhniy was appointed ambassador to London, a key diplomatic post but one that removed him as an immediate political threat to Zelenskyy.
Zaluzhniy, who has said nothing about the political turmoil of the past week, posted a statement to Facebook, praising Drapatiy.
Mykola Byelyeskov, a political analyst at government-affiliated National Institute for Strategic Studies, described Drapatiy as professional and respected among ranks as a decent officer who helped to stabilize the front in Kharkiv in May 2024 and later, in Pokrovsk in December 2024.
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“But Zelensky did a step to end confrontation with people who wanted change and associated problems with Syrskiy,” Byelyeskov said.
"Drapatiy is an excellent choice, one of the most highly respected leaders among the new generation of Ukrainian officers," said John Hardie, deputy director of the Russia Program at Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank.
"I'm hopeful his appointment will both boost morale and help tackle challenges facing the Ukrainian military, particularly when it comes to command culture — a problem Drapatiy has experienced firsthand."