Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that he expects proposals from new Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Mykhailo Drapaty regarding a personnel reset within the army structure.
"Unconditional unity is important. Therefore, the unity of the Ministry of Defense, the military leadership of our state, and our soldiers is important. There will be a reset of the personnel in the army. I am waiting for proposals from the new commander-in-chief," Zelenskyy said at a press conference with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in Kyiv on Thursday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the new leadership of the Ministry of Defense and the army must jointly fulfill key tasks.
"Drapaty and Khmara [acting Minister of Defense] will have to fulfill the main task today after a long, exhausting war for everyone. This is the task that I set for both Fedorov and Syrsky, because it is impossible to divide responsibility and look for who is to blame and who is not," Zelenskyy said.
According to him, the issues of strengthening air defense, the work of territorial recruitment centers, and the "normal face of mobilization" must be resolved jointly.
"The issue of closing the sky, the issue of TRCs, the issue of a normal, if I may say so, face of mobilization – all of this, until the war ends, will have to be done together, in an alliance. Unfortunately, such an alliance did not happen before," the President emphasized.
Zelenskyy also wished the new commander-in-chief "success and only victory," adding that Drapaty "has certain innovative things."
"Syrsky also had very strong professional operations. We understand everything, and therefore we will certainly make sure that both Oleksandr Stanislawowytsch [Syrsky] and Andriy Hnatov, let's say, do not rest. But that they hand over [matters] to all the new command, so that they are somewhere nearby, so that they help, so that they advise," the President concluded.
On July 22, Zelenskyy signed a decree appointing Mykhailo Drapaty as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The corresponding decree No. 630/2026 was published on the President's website on Wednesday.
At the same time, by decree No. 627/2026, Oleksandr Syrsky was dismissed from the post of AFU Commander-in-Chief.
In addition, pursuant to decree No. 628/2026, the President dismissed Drapaty from the post of Commander of the Joint Forces of the AFU.
