Who is Mykhailo Drapatyi? ‘The Flying BMP’ who now leads Ukraine’s military

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy replaced his top general Tuesday, naming Maj. Gen. Mykhailo Drapatyi commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces and pushing out Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi after days of nationwide protests demanding Syrskyi’s removal over the rift that cost Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov his job a week earlier.

Drapatyi, 43, is widely seen as a reform-minded, soldier-first commander whose habit of owning failures in public made him the counterweight to Syrskyi’s centralized, old world style.

Protesters have chanted his name nightly along with the names of a handful of other popular commanders for the past week as anger over Fedorov’s removal has grown.

“It has been decided that Mykhailo Drapatyi will become the new Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media Tuesday, shortly before midnight.

“It is a fact that Oleksandr Syrskyi ensured Ukraine’s success in defending Kyiv, in the Kharkiv offensive operation, and in the Kursk operation,” he wrote. “I am grateful to Oleksandr Syrskyi and every one of our soldiers for their strong positions on the front lines. I am grateful to Mykhailo Drapatyi for his vision.”

“I thank the President of Ukraine for the trust, the Minister of Defense for the support, and the Defense Forces for a new stage of service,” the new CIC wrote on Facebook in response. “I will work responsibly, focused and with respect for the people who are defending our state today.”

Last week, Drapatyi shared support for Fedorov and reform in the military administration. “The military needs change, but without justice, no change will make sense to the people who carry this war on their shoulders every day,” he wrote .

“A commander has no right to remain silent about problems, especially when their cost is measured in lost opportunities, time, and human lives,” he added.

Ukraine's recently ousted Minister of Defence Mykhailo Fedorov speaks at a joint press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, July 1, 2026. (Alina Smutko/Reuters)

Fedorov welcomed the replacement, calling it “a new era and a new hope in the fight of free people for freedom and justice” on social media just minutes after Zelensky shared the long-awaited update.

In naming a commander widely seen as a reformer, Zelenskyy has answered a war-weary nation and may have defused the gravest domestic crisis of his wartime presidency, even as the fate of Fedorov, the ousted minister the protests began over, remains unsettled.

“Removing Fedorov = helping the Russians”

It began as a cabinet reshuffle.

When Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko stepped down at Zelenskyy’s request early last week, the move dissolved the government and forced the reappointment of every minister.

By Wednesday, it was clear Fedorov would not get his job back.

The backlash was immediate.

Col. Pavlo Yelizarov, the deputy commander of Ukraine’s air force who helped oversee the country’s defense against Russia’s nightly missile and drone barrages, resigned in protest on Thursday, writing in a Facebook post that Fedorov’s removal was “a great evil for the country’s defense capability.”

The same day, Serhii Sternenko, the drone-crowdfunding activist Fedorov had made his adviser on drone warfare, quit too.

“A lot of things did not work out, including due to bureaucratic obstacles and artificial delays on the part of those who are hindered by army reform,” he wrote on X .

Protests against the shake up erupted across the country that afternoon, spreading to more than a dozen cities and drawing thousands of people wielding signs with slogans such as “Removing Fedorov = helping the Russians” and “Don’t change what works, change for the better.”

People protest against Zelenskyy's decision to replace Fedorov as defense minister, July 17, 2026. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

Overnight, the protests became one of the largest public demonstrations since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost five years ago, second only to the anticorruption gatherings that swept the nation last summer.

While Thursday’s demonstrations began as a call to reinstate Fedorov, they broadened rapidly to include a parallel demand for the removal of Syrskyi — once the commander’s role in the former defense minister’s ousting became known.

Zelenskyy ultimately said the firing was catalyzed by a feud he could no longer manage.

“There is a difficult dialogue between the military leadership and the Defence Ministry,” he told journalists on Thursday. “It is difficult on different levels, by the way. It is not just about individuals.”

The political clash between Syrskyi and Fedorov comes to a head

The rift pitted the military’s old school against its modernizers: a Soviet-trained general running the war through a rigid chain of command, and a tech minister who built his career on digitizing the state.

Syrskyi, commander-in-chief since February 2024, organized the defense of Kyiv in the war’s opening weeks, the rapid 2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive and the 2024 incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.

But reformers faulted him for a top-down command culture inherited from the Soviet era, and some troops call him “the Butcher” over the cost of holding the city of Bakhmut .

Outgoing Commander in Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi speaks with lawmakers during a parliament session in Kyiv, Ukraine Nov. 19, 2024. (Reuters)

Syrskyi responded to the political turmoil and growing accusations against his fitness for office in an op-ed in Ukrainian outlet Militarnyi on Monday.

He rejected the charge that he resisted embracing drone warfare and noted that he formulated Ukraine’s dedicated Unmanned Systems Forces as a separate military branch to formalize the tech’s importance in the war today.

He also apologized to Fedorov, saying he was “surprised to learn” the two had a conflict and that he had “perceived our relationship as a working one: with complex issues, with different positions.”

“If I offended anyone: Mykhailo Albertovich, I’m sorry. I can be harsh,” he said. “But I ask you, and everyone who is following this story with enthusiasm: let’s focus not on the personal, but on the global. On victory.”

As defense minister since only January, Fedorov oversaw Ukraine’s expansion of drone and deep-strike operations, and a war-weary public embraced the technology as its best edge against a much larger enemy.

In an independent public opinion poll conducted by international firm Gradus Research on July 16–17, found that over 60% of Ukrainians opposed Fedorov’s removal, and nearly half said they believed his ousting would weaken the country’s defense.

Fedorov is known for moving fast and iterating often.

When the reshuffle cost him his job, Fedorov preempted the president’s office by announcing his own exit and then laying out the fight behind it in a rare public airing of the government’s infighting under martial law.

Then, at a press conference the day after his firing, he said his reforms had run into “a complete blocking” by the military leadership, and that Zelenskyy had forced a choice between him and the commander.

“Instead of thinking about how to defeat Russia asymmetrically, [Syrskyi] figured out how to split the country,” Fedorov said at the event, hours before the first protesters entered city squares.

Drapatyi has built the opposite reputation to his predecessor, becoming generally well-liked among soldiers and civilian personnel alike for his dedication to his troops and his willingness to learn and adapt while leading under the most difficult of circumstances.

Others knew him as “The Flying BMP.”

A video of the major general plowing a blue-and-yellow-flagged BMP through a Russian roadblock during Moscow’s temporary occupation of Mariupol in 2014 went viral shortly after the city’s liberation for its brazen success. The video quickly becoming a meme for determination at all costs — and tacit understanding for Drapatyi’s own stubborn fortitude.

A career tank officer with more than two decades in uniform, he was promoted to command the Ground Forces in November 2024.

In that role, he oversaw the newly formed 155th Mechanized Brigade, also known as the “Anne of Kyiv Brigade,” that became the first Ukrainian brigade trained and equipped completely by a Western ally — and that became infamous for being hit by mass desertions before it was even fully deployed.

Drapatyi admitted that the failures of the 155th came from Ukraine’s own recruitment and training, not the French exchange program, and pushed for reforms across the military establishment as a result.

His tenure hit its biggest and final challenge later that year, when a Russian Iskander missile struck a training ground in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, killing 12 soldiers and wounding more than 60.

Russia had been hitting rear training grounds all year, killing troops far from the front and forcing negligence investigations into why they were still massed in the open, according to the Kyiv Independent .

Although the Ground Forces command reported that most personnel had reached shelters and that no troops were massed in formation, the official account failed to adequately explain how — if the troops were securely in their bunkers — so many could be killed.

Drapatyi took responsibility for the deaths, saying his orders to disperse and take shelter were not carried out, making him an ineffective leader. He resigned as Ground Forces commander.

“An army where no one is responsible for the losses is dying from within,” he said at the time.

Zelenskyy rejected the resignation and refused to let him leave the military, instead moving him out of the Ground Forces within days into the reconfigured Joint Forces Command, a step framed as allowing him to focus on frontline operations.

There, units like the well-known Khartiia Brigade retook ground around Kupiansk, according to Euromaidan Press .

Just six months later, his standing had grown to the point that protesters across the country were chanting his name in the week before his appointment, often right alongside Fedorov’s.

Fedorov’s fate still unknown

Fedorov welcomed Drapatyi’s appointment as “a voice of change that could not be ignored,” adding that he had also called Syrskyi to thank him for defending Ukraine.

Where Syrskyi goes next is uncertain.

“My job is war. Strategy, front, people,” he wrote in Monday’s column. “This is what I do and will continue to do.”

Fedorov’s fate also remains unknown.

He has said he will return only as defense minister, and he turned down another post, one focused on military technology and modernizing the ministry, according to the anonymous sources speaking to Kyiv Independent .

Zelenskyy said Tuesday that he would formalize Drapatyi’s appointment Wednesday, and that more decisions were still to come.

Fedorov, for his part, is waiting.

“We need to move even faster and write new chapters, correcting all previous mistakes,” Fedorov said after Drapatyi’s appointment.

乌克兰基辅——乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基周二撤换了最高将领，任命米哈伊洛·德拉帕蒂少将为乌克兰武装部队总司令，并将奥列克桑德·瑟尔斯基将军撤职。此前，全国范围内爆发了持续数日的抗议活动，要求瑟尔斯基将军下台，原因是与国防部长米哈伊洛·费多罗夫的矛盾导致他一周前丢掉了工作。

43岁的德拉帕蒂被广泛认为是一位具有改革思想、以士兵为先的指挥官，他习惯于公开承认失败，这使他成为瑟尔斯基集中式、旧世界风格的制衡力量。

过去一周，随着人们对费多罗夫被撤职的愤怒情绪日益高涨，抗议者每晚都会高喊他的名字以及其他几位受欢迎的指挥官的名字。

“已经决定，米哈伊洛·德拉帕蒂将成为乌克兰武装部队的新任总司令，”泽连斯基周二午夜前不久在社交媒体上写道。

“奥列克桑德·瑟尔斯基确保了乌克兰在保卫基辅、哈尔科夫攻势和库尔斯克战役中取得胜利，这是不争的事实，”他写道。“我感谢奥列克桑德·瑟尔斯基和我们每一位在前线坚守阵地的士兵。我感谢米哈伊洛·德拉帕蒂的远见卓识。”

“我感谢乌克兰总统的信任，国防部长的支持，以及国防军给予我新的服役机会，”新任总参谋长在脸书上回应道。“我将以负责任、专注的态度，并尊重今天保卫我们国家的人民，开展工作。”

上周，德拉帕蒂表达了对费多罗夫和军方改革的支持。他写道：“军队需要变革，但如果没有公正，任何变革对那些每天肩负战争重任的人民来说都毫无意义。”

“指挥官没有权利对问题保持沉默，尤其是在问题造成的损失包括机会损失、时间损失和生命损失的情况下，”他补充道。

2026年7月1日，乌克兰前国防部长米哈伊洛·费多罗夫在基辅举行的联合新闻发布会上发表讲话。（Alina Smutko/路透社）

泽连斯基在社交媒体上分享了期待已久的最新消息后几分钟，费多罗夫就对这一人事变动表示欢迎，称其为“自由人民争取自由和正义斗争的新时代和新希望”。

泽连斯基任命了一位被广泛视为改革者的指挥官，回应了饱受战争蹂躏的国民的诉求，并可能化解了他战时总统任期内最严重的国内危机，尽管引发抗议的被罢免部长费多罗夫的命运仍然悬而未决。

“撤换费多罗夫=帮助俄罗斯人”

这一切始于一次内阁改组。

上周初，总理尤利娅·斯维里登科应泽连斯基的要求辞职，此举解散了政府，并迫使所有部长重新任命。

到了周三，费多罗夫重返工作岗位已成定局。

反弹立即发生。

乌克兰空军副司令帕夫洛·叶利扎罗夫上校曾协助监督该国抵御俄罗斯夜间导弹和无人机袭击，他于周四辞职以示抗议。他在Facebook上发帖称，费多罗夫的下台“对国家的国防能力来说是一个巨大的祸害”。

同一天，无人机众筹活动家谢尔盖·斯特年科（Serhii Sternenko）——费多罗夫曾任命他为无人机战争顾问——也辞职了。

“很多事情都没有成功，包括由于官僚主义障碍和那些受军队改革阻碍的人人为拖延，”他在 X 上写道。

当天下午，反对此次人事变动的抗议活动在全国各地爆发，蔓延到十几个城市，吸引了成千上万的人举着标语，上面写着“撤换费多罗夫=帮助俄罗斯人”和“不要改变行之有效的方法，要朝着更好的方向改变”。

2026年7月17日，民众抗议泽连斯基撤换费多罗夫担任国防部长的决定。（托马斯·彼得/路透社）

一夜之间，抗议活动演变为自俄罗斯近五年前全面入侵乌克兰以来规模最大的公众示威活动之一，仅次于去年夏天席卷全国的反腐败集会。

周四的示威活动最初是为了要求恢复费多罗夫的职务，但随着指挥官瑟尔斯基在前国防部长被罢免事件中所扮演的角色被曝光，示威活动迅速扩大，同时要求撤换瑟尔斯基。

泽连斯基最终表示，解雇他的导火索是他无法再控制的一场内讧。

“军方领导层和国防部之间存在着艰难的对话，”他周四对记者说。“顺便说一句，困难体现在各个层面。这不仅仅是个人问题。”

瑟尔斯基和费多罗夫之间的政治冲突达到白热化阶段。

这场分裂使军队中的老派势力与现代化派势力针锋相对：一位接受过苏联训练的将军通过严格的指挥链指挥战争，而一位科技部长则以国家数字化为职业发展方向。

自 2024 年 2 月起担任总司令的瑟尔斯基，组织了战争初期几周的基辅防御、2022 年哈尔科夫的快速反攻以及 2024 年入侵俄罗斯库尔斯克地区的行动。

但改革者批评他沿袭了苏联时代的自上而下的指挥文化，一些士兵因为守住巴赫穆特市的代价而称他为“屠夫”。

2024年11月19日，即将卸任的乌克兰武装部队总司令奥列克桑德·瑟尔斯基将军在乌克兰基辅的议会会议上与议员们交谈。（路透社）

周一，瑟尔斯基在乌克兰媒体《军事报》（Militarnyi）上发表了一篇评论文章，回应了当前的政治动荡以及对他是否胜任总统职位的日益增多的指责。

他否认了自己抵制无人机战争的指控，并指出，他之所以将乌克兰专门的无人系统部队组建为一个独立的军事部门，是为了正式确立这项技术在当今战争中的重要性。

他还向费多罗夫道歉，表示“得知两人之间存在冲突，我感到很惊讶”，并且他“一直认为我们之间的关系是工作关系：存在复杂的问题，存在不同的立场”。

“如果我冒犯了任何人：米哈伊洛·阿尔贝托维奇，我很抱歉。我说话可能比较严厉，”他说。“但我请求你们，以及所有热情关注此事的人们：让我们把注意力放在全球而非个人身上，放在胜利上。”

费多罗夫自今年1月起担任国防部长，负责监督乌克兰扩大无人机和纵深打击行动，而饱受战争蹂躏的民众则将这项技术视为对抗更强大敌人的最佳优势。

国际公司 Gradus Research 于 7 月 16 日至 17 日进行的一项独立民意调查发现，超过 60% 的乌克兰人反对费多罗夫下台，近一半的人表示他们认为费多罗夫下台会削弱国家的国防。

费多罗夫以行动迅速、迭代频繁而闻名。

改组导致费多罗夫丢了工作，他抢在总统办公室之前宣布自己辞职，然后罕见地公开揭露了戒严时期政府内部的斗争。

然后，在他被解职后的第二天举行的新闻发布会上，他说他的改革遭到了军方领导层的“全面阻挠”，泽连斯基迫使他在他和这位指挥官之间做出选择。

“瑟斯基没有考虑如何以非对称的方式击败俄罗斯，而是想出了如何分裂这个国家，”费多罗夫在活动上说道，几个小时后，第一批抗议者进入了城市广场。

德拉帕蒂的声誉与他的前任截然相反，他因对部队的奉献精神以及在最困难的情况下领导部队时愿意学习和适应而广受士兵和平民的喜爱。

其他人则称他为“飞行BMP”。

2014年莫斯科短暂占领马里乌波尔期间，一段德拉帕蒂少将驾驶一辆悬挂蓝黄相间旗帜的BMP步兵战车冲破俄军路障的视频在马里乌波尔解放后不久便迅速走红网络，因其大胆的胜利而广为流传。这段视频很快成为不惜一切代价也要取得胜利的象征，也让人们对德拉帕蒂本人顽强不屈的精神有了更深的理解。

作为一名拥有二十多年军龄的职业坦克军官，他于 2024 年 11 月晋升为陆军司令。

在该职位上，他负责监督新组建的第 155 机械化旅，又称“基辅的安妮旅”，该旅成为第一支完全由西方盟友训练和装备的乌克兰旅——并且因在完全部署之前就遭受大规模逃兵而臭名昭著。

德拉帕蒂承认，第155团的失败源于乌克兰自身的征兵和训练，而不是法国的交流计划，因此推动了整个军事机构的改革。

同年晚些时候，他的任期遭遇了最大也是最后一个挑战：一枚俄罗斯伊斯坎德尔导弹击中了第聂伯罗彼得罗夫斯克州的一个训练场，造成 12 名士兵死亡，60 多人受伤。

据《基辅独立报》报道，俄罗斯全年都在袭击后方训练场，导致远离前线的士兵丧生，并迫使当局对为何这些士兵仍然聚集在露天进行疏忽调查。

尽管地面部队指挥部报告说，大多数人员已经到达掩体，并且没有部队集结成队，但官方的说法未能充分解释——如果部队安全地待在掩体中——为什么会有这么多人被杀。

德拉帕蒂承认对士兵死亡负有责任，称他下令分散并寻找掩体避难的命令没有得到执行，这使他成为一个无能的指挥官。他辞去了陆军司令的职务。

“一支没有人为伤亡负责的军队正在从内部走向灭亡，”他当时说道。

泽连斯基拒绝了他的辞呈，也拒绝让他离开军队，而是在几天之内将他从陆军调到重组后的联合部队司令部，此举被描述为让他能够专注于前线作战。

据欧洲广场新闻社报道，像著名的哈尔蒂亚旅这样的部队在那里重新夺回了库皮扬斯克周围的阵地。

仅仅六个月后，他的地位就上升到了如此高的程度，以至于在他被任命的前一周，全国各地的抗议者都在高喊他的名字，而且经常与费多罗夫的名字一起高喊。

费多罗夫的命运仍然未知

费多罗夫对德拉帕蒂的任命表示欢迎，称其为“不容忽视的变革之声”，并补充说，他还致电瑟尔斯基，感谢他捍卫乌克兰。

瑟尔斯基的下一步去向尚不明朗。

“我的工作就是打仗。战略、前线、人员，”他在周一的专栏文章中写道。“这就是我所做的，并将继续做下去。”

费多罗夫的命运仍然未知。

据《基辅独立报》援引匿名消息人士的话报道，他曾表示只会以国防部长的身份回归，并拒绝了另一个专注于军事技术和国防部现代化的职位。

泽连斯基周二表示，他将于周三正式任命德拉帕蒂，未来还将有更多决定出台。

费多罗夫则在等待。

费多罗夫在德拉帕蒂被任命后表示：“我们需要加快步伐，谱写新的篇章，纠正以前所有的错误。”