Zelenskyy replaces Ukraine military chief after protests | Russia-Ukraine war News

Replaced military chief Syrskyi clashed with former Defence Minister Fedorov, whose removal last week led to protests.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired Oleksandr Syrskyi as the country’s commander-in-chief, appointing Mykhailo Drapatyi to lead the military. The move came after six days of protests in the capital, Kyiv, sparked by the removal of Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov – who had previously clashed with Syrskyi.

Zelenskyy said Tuesday’s decision was made to “reset” the ongoing war effort against Russia.

“I am grateful to Oleksandr Syrskyi and to every one of our warriors for Ukraine’s strong front-line positions,” Zelenskyy said in a statement on social media. “I am grateful to Mykhailo Drapatyi for holding that same view.”

“Our shared wish is one – victory over the enemy and conditions at the front and in pressure on Russia that would force Russia toward peace,” he added. He emphasised the need to address friction within the military leadership and resolve persistent issues concerning mobilisation and frontline management.

Fedorov, who was widely seen as pivotal to the war effort against Russia, was removed from his post last week, leading to widespread anger across Ukraine. Before his dismissal, the former defence minister had publicly criticised Syrskyi, saying the general was blocking his reform efforts and needed to be replaced if Ukraine were to defeat Russia’s invasion.

Fedorov has been attempting to advance drone innovation and more reliance on technology, but had accused Syrskyi – seen as more of a traditionalist – of sabotaging his work.

Zelenskyy met with Fedorov on Tuesday and offered him what he called, “a respected position in the government that would unify the country’s technology sector”. It wasn’t clear if Fedorov accepted the offer, according to Associated Press.

It is unclear if the changes will pacify the demonstrators, who have been demanding accountability and a more effective military strategy, with many criticising Syrskyi and Zelenskyy’s handling of the war effort, amid rising Ukrainian casualties.

Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that the unit documented 1,396 civilians killed and 7,978 wounded in Ukraine in the first six months of 2026.

That was a 37 percent increase from the same period in the previous year and “almost doubled what we documented in 2024,” she said.

Both Moscow and Kyiv have intensified air strikes in recent months, targeting each other’s vital infrastructure, as United States-led talks on ending Russia’s invasion remain stalled, with the US’s focus largely turned towards its war on Iran.

Russia has frequently used ballistic missiles while Kyiv is currently short of Patriot interceptor munitions, which are crucial to defend against the attacks.

In retaliation, Ukraine is intensifying its strikes on Russian territory, mainly targeting oil depots. A series of Ukrainian drone ⁠attacks killed at least eight warehouse workers on ⁠Saturday and injured dozens more, while another attack caused a fire at an oil depot outside Moscow.

New military leader Drapatyi is regarded as a disciplined and highly effective officer, and has been praised for his role in stopping Russia’s advances in its 2014 invasion of eastern Ukraine.

In 2024, he took command of forces that halted Russia’s advance on Zelenskyy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih and helped push Russian troops back from parts of the Kherson region, before organising the defence that blunted a renewed Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region.

Zelenskyy named him ground forces commander later that year, a post from which he later resigned in 2025, after a Russian strike on a ground-forces training centre killed a number of Ukrainian troops.