43-year-old Lieutenant General Mykhailo Drapatiy first became famous 12 years ago, on May 9, 2014, thanks to a video showing an infantry fighting vehicle under his command breaking through separatist barricades in Mariupol.
Mikhail Drapatiy
At that time, he commanded a battalion of the 72nd separate mechanized brigade.
Drapaty Mykhailo Vasyliovych , born November 21, 1982, Kamianets-Podilskyi (Khmelnytskyi Oblast) - Ukrainian military serviceman, Major General of the Armed Forces of Ukraine , Commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (2025–2026), Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from February 10 to November 29, 2024.
After graduating from high school, he entered the Kharkiv Institute of Tank Troops named after the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, graduating in 2004. He began his military service as a platoon commander in the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade.
He is married and has a son, Ivan, and a daughter, Anna.
Many Telegram channels are reporting on this episode today. However, rarely is there any mention of how exactly the fighting in Mariupol ended on May 9. It ended with Ukrainian forces being forced to abandon the city, and it remained under de facto separatist control until mid-June 2014.
In the summer of that year, Drapatiy and his unit found themselves surrounded in the Izvarinsky cauldron on the border with the Russian Federation, from where he managed to escape with 260 soldiers.
He met the full-scale war as Deputy Commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for troop training.
From March 2022 - Deputy Commander of the Operational Command "South" of the Ground Forces and Commander of the Operational Group of Forces "South" (including stopping the Russian army's offensive on Krivoy Rog).
He then commanded the Kherson group of troops, which participated in the liberation of the right bank of the Kherson region.
By early 2024, he was considered by expert circles to be one of the most capable Ukrainian military leaders, sent into the most difficult areas to save the situation. Specifically, in May 2024, during the Russian army's attempted offensive in the border region of Kharkiv Oblast, he was appointed commander of the "Kharkiv" operational-tactical group of forces, which stopped the offensive.
From November 2024 to June 2025 - Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
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He resigned amid controversy after a series of attacks on training centers, effectively accusing commanders of failing to protect the lives of soldiers. He also alleged "mutual responsibility and impunity" in the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
At the same time, people started talking about his increasingly acute conflict with Syrsky.
However, Drapatiy was not dismissed from the army. And on June 3, 2025, after a conversation with the president, he was appointed Commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Also, on October 20, 2025, he became Commander of the force group responsible for the Kharkiv region.
At the same time, his conflict with Syrsky remained. Mikhail Drapatiy was considered the informal head of the internal army opposition to the commander-in-chief.
Fedorov stated that Drapatiy received three reprimands from Syrsky.
Earlier this year, Mykhailo Drapatiy also publicly spoke out against Zelenskyy's decision to dismiss Malyuk as head of the SBU.
Therefore, no one was surprised when, after Fedorov’s dismissal from the post of Minister of Defense, Drapatiy was one of the first to support his position.
Mykhailo Drapatiy is a Hero of Ukraine and a recipient of the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky of several degrees.
Skelet.Org
On the topic : People from Zelensky's circle want to replace Zaluzhny with Syrsky — media
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Mykhailo Drapatiy
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