Mykhailo Drapatyi

Mykhailo Vasyliovych Drapatyi (; born 21 November 1982) is a Ukrainian military officer who has served as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 21 July 2026. Prior to this, he was the Commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from 3 June 2025. He served as commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces from 2024 to 2025.

Aside from his current role, he has held several notable commands including second battalion of the 72nd Mechanized Brigade during the 2014 Battle of Mariupol, the Zelenopillia rocket attack and the subsequent breakout, Chief of Staff and First Deputy Commander of the 30th Mechanized Brigade, commander of the 58th Motorized Infantry Brigade and commander of several operational-strategic and operational-tactical groups.

He has also received several notable awards, including the full Order of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, the Cross of Military Merit and Hero of Ukraine.

Early life and education Drapatyi was born in Kamianets-Podilskyi, Khmelnytskyi Oblast, on 21 November 1982. After graduating from high school, he enrolled in the Kharkiv Institute of Tank Troops. He graduated in 2004, after which he began service as a Lieutenant in the 72nd Mechanized Brigade, which is based in Bila Tserkva, Kyiv Oblast.

Military career His first command was as a Major, commander of second battalion, 72nd Mechanized Brigade. His battalion was deployed to eastern Ukraine in April 2014, taking part in the Battle of Mariupol in May that year. On 9 May, armed separatists attempted to seize the Mariupol police department. Drapatyi's battalion was sent with armoured vehicles to free hostages and reinforce the units that were defending the station. Leading at the head of a column of four armoured vehicles, his BMP smashed through a barricade. Videos of this were broadcast on international news.

In June that year, the first and second battalions were sent on a raid along the Russian border alongside the 3rd Special Forces Regiment, 24th Mechanized Brigade, 51st Guards Mechanized Brigade and the 79th Air Assault Brigade. They were tasked with cutting off the separatists from Russia. They travelled over 160 kilometres, taking control of several settlements, coming under BM-21 Grad and BM-27 Uragan rocket fire between 4–7 August. He graduated on 18 June 2021 as the top graduate, for which he was presented the Queen's Sword of the United Kingdom by then British Ambassador to Ukraine, Melinda Simmons. where he again improved the situation on the front line. becoming the youngest officer to hold that post in Ukraine's history. including an updated recruitment system to eliminate corruption, improved training to better fit battlefield needs and the integration of advanced technology into training. The 155th Mechanised Brigade, as of November 2024, had had approximately 1,700 defectors, a third of its service members at the time. The Economist noted that "On its return the brigade was splintered: units and kit were hived off to other brigades, trained specialists were reassigned to infantry platoons, and desertions spiked as inexperienced units were sent to forward positions and took heavy losses."

On 1 June 2025, Drapatyi resigned from the role the commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces following an attack on a training base that killed twelve soldiers and wounded 60 other. According to the Institute for the Study of War, Drapatyi stated that his reasons for resigning were failing "to ensure the proper execution of his orders", along with attempt to establish standard for personal accountability – "Ukraine's military is disadvantaged by a command culture that is unwilling to accept personal responsibility for and learn from battlefield failures." He also stated that he must take responsibility and resign as his efforts to root out this attitude from the Ukrainian Ground Forces failed.

Commander of the Joint Forces On 3 June 2025, Drapatyi was appointed by Zelenskyy to become head of the Ukrainian military's Joint Forces Command, and was succeeded as Commander of the Ground Forces by Hennadii Shapovalov on 19 June 2025.

Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces On 21 July 2026, Drapatyi was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, replacing Oleksandr Syrskyi after a week of protests against the removal of Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. Drapatyi was a supporter of Fedorov's reforms in the military, which were mainly aimed at technological modernization, and is expected to continue many of the measures advanced by Fedorov. Fedorov praised the appointment, calling Drapatyi "a breath of fresh air and a new source of hope."

Public statements In a 2023 interview recorded as part of a documentary project by Ukrainer and released in full in July 2026 following his appointment as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Drapatyi described Russia as "a nation, along with its leadership, that has no right to exist", arguing that, in his view, the Russian nation had remained fundamentally unchanged in its mentality and imperial ambitions for over a millennium.

In the same interview, Drapatyi said that he had believed a war with Russia to be inevitable even before 2014, arguing that after Ukraine gained independence in 1991, successive governments had failed to pursue full political and strategic independence from Russia. He also stated that the Donetsk and Luhansk regions had historically received insufficient attention in terms of Ukrainization, contributing to the emergence of a population segment that lacked a Ukrainian national consciousness.

Awards Drapatyi received the full Order of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, his first in August 2016, his second in 2018 and his third in July 2022. He has received other awards, including the Cross of Military Merit and the Firearms award of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

Personal life Drapatyi is married and has two children: a son and a daughter.