President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday dismissed Ukraine's military leader Oleksandr Syrskyi following public pressure and namedย Major โGeneral โMykhailo โ Drapaty as new commander-in-chief.
Issued on: 21/07/2026 - 21:59Modified: 21/07/2026 - 22:06
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Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky in Kharkiv. ยฉ Handout via AFP Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that he was dismissing Oleksandr Syrsky, commander-in-chief of Ukraine's army, and appointing joint forces commander Mykhailo Drapaty in his place.
"I have decided that the new Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be Mykhailo Drapaty... I am grateful to Oleksandr Syrsky and to each of our warriors for Ukraine's strong front-line positions," Zelensky said in a post on Telegram.
Read moreHow rivalry with a top general brought down Ukraineโs popular defence minister Fedorov
In his evening โaddress, Zelensky โalso said that โhe had offered โformer defence minister Mykhailo Fedorovย โ whose surprise โdismissal โsparked a โpolitical crisisย โ โa "decent post" to oversee the technological โ component of the โ state.
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Cover image: ยฉ France 24 01:51
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)
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