Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Oleksandr Syrskyi as commander-in-chief of the armed forces on July 21, 2026, and appointed Mykhailo Drapatyi to lead the military.
The decision followed six days of protests in Kyiv and other cities sparked by Zelenskyy's July 16 removal of Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. Demonstrators had demanded Fedorov's reinstatement and Syrskyi's ouster, with army veteran Dmytro Koziatynskyi warning of nationwide strikes if the demands were not met by July 24. Fedorov had publicly accused Syrskyi of blocking his reform efforts, though Syrskyi denied any conflict in a statement published on the Militarny website.
Zelenskyy named Yevhenii Khmara as acting defence minister. Khmara previously led the SBU's Centre for Special Operations 'A'. The leadership shake-up comes as the UN documented 1,396 civilian deaths in Ukraine in the first half of 2026, a 37% increase from the prior year.