Major General Ihor Skybiuk will be appointed to the post of Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
"We have determined the procedure for further steps. Today, decisions on replacing the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be formalized – the relevant decrees are being prepared. Together with Mykhailo Drapaty and Yevheniy Khmara, we determined that Major General Ihor Skybiuk, a very experienced military man alongside whom the new Commander-in-Chief defended Ukraine, will become the new Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Zelenskyy said on Telegram on Wednesday.
Major General Ihor Skybiuk was born in 1977. He graduated from the Odesa Institute of the Ground Forces in 1998, and from the National University of Defense of Ukraine in 2011 and 2024.
He has progressed through military service from an airmobile platoon commander to deputy brigade commander and head of the airborne service of a separate air assault brigade of the Airmobile Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In 2001-2002, he commanded a special platoon of a special company of the Ukrainian peacekeeping contingent in Kosovo (Republic of Serbia).
Subsequently, he held the positions of chief of staff and first deputy commander of a separate air assault brigade of the Air Assault Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, commander of a separate air assault brigade, chief of staff and deputy commander of the Air Assault Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and commander of the Air Assault Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Major General Skybiuk has been awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine, as well as state and departmental awards.
Since June 3, 2025, he has served as deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
As reported earlier, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated in an evening address on July 21 that Mykhailo Drapaty will be appointed to the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine instead of Oleksandr Syrsky.
