Gen. Mykhailo Drapatyi, the new commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces
Tuesday’s Coverage: Protesters to Zelensky — Reinstate Defense Minister Fedorov by Friday
UPDATE 0613 GMT:
Ukraine has struck warehouses of the Russian online retailer Wildberries for the third time within a week.
Logistics hubs are burning in Krasnodar and in Nevinnomyssk in Stavropol Krai in southwest Russia.
Two major Wildberries logistics hubs are burning after the overnight drone attack on Russia.
One fire is in Krasnodar. The other is in Nevinnomyssk, Stavropol Krai.
Wildberries is Russia’s Amazon-style e-commerce giant, with massive logistics hubs across the country.
Krasnodar
— Special Kherson Cat (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) July 22, 2026 at 6:23 AM
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Under intense public pressure, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced the replacement of commander-in-chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi.
Zelensky named Joint Forces chief Mykhailo Drapatyi as the new head of the military. He also removed Syrskyi’s ally Gen. Andrii Hnatov, the head of the General Staff.
Syrskyi’s dismissal came six days after Zelensky fired Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who had been in a dispute with Syrskyi over technology, manpower, and resources.
Thousands of protesters gathered daily in the center of Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine. On Monday, the demonstrations were suspended with a Friday deadline for Zelensky to act.
Zelensky said he offered Fedorov a new position but did not say whether he had accepted.
The President said he met Drapatyi, 43, twice over the past two days as well as conferring with other senior commanders. He said his decision was made in a meeting with acting Defense Minister Yevhen Khmara and the Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Pavlo Palisa.
I have decided that Mykhailo Drapatyi will become the new Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Together with Mykhailo, Yevhenii Khmara, and Pavlo Palisa, we determined how the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine should be reconfigured. It is a fact that… pic.twitter.com/spK2B2ppHP
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 21, 2026
Drapatyi is a supporter of Fedorov. He said he saw a genuine effort to change rules that have long governed the military, addressing the issues that “the system has grown accustomed to ignoring”.
A commander has no right to remain silent about problems, especially when their cost is measured in lost opportunities, time, and human lives. Silence does not protect the army; it only allows mistakes to accumulate until they become much more difficult to correct.
Under Drapayti’s command, the newly-created Joint Forces pushed back Russian forces in the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine. Previously, he led the Dnipro operational-strategic group, which oversaw the eastern frontlines until Syrskyi disbanded it in October 2025.
Fedorov posted in response to Drapayti’s appointment:
This is a breath of fresh air and new hope in the struggle….It is the voice of change that could not go unheard.
Now the high expectations of the Ukrainian people must be met with a clear vision for bringing the war of independence to an end, a strong team, and decisive actions aimed at preserving the lives of our soldiers, robotizing the front line, delivering asymmetric strikes, and exhausting the Russian economy.
