Who is Mykhailo Drapatyi? ‘The Flying BMP’ who now leads Ukraine’s military

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy replaced his top general Tuesday, naming Maj. Gen. Mykhailo Drapatyi commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces and pushing out Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi after days of nationwide protests demanding Syrskyi’s removal over the rift that cost Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov his job a week earlier. Drapatyi, 43, is widely seen as a reform-minded, soldier-first commander whose habit of owning failures in public made him the counterweight to Syrskyi’s centralized, old world style. Protesters have chanted his name nightly along with the names of a handful of other popular commanders for the past week as anger over Fedorov’s removal has grown. “It has been decided that Mykhailo Drapatyi will become the new Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media Tuesday, shortly before midnight. “It is a fact that Oleksandr Syrskyi ensured Ukraine’s success in defending Kyiv, in the Kharkiv offensive operation, and in the Kursk operation,” he wrote. “I am grateful to Oleksandr Syrskyi and every one of our soldiers for their strong positions on the front lines. I am grateful to Mykhailo Drapatyi for his vision.” “I thank the President of Ukraine for the trust, the Minister of Defense for the support, and the Defense Forces for a new stage of service,” the new CIC wrote on Facebook in response. “I will work responsibly, focused and with respect for the people who are defending our state today.” Last week, Drapatyi shared support for Fedorov and reform in the military administration. “The military needs change, but without justice, no change will make sense to the people who carry this war on their shoulders every day,” he wrote. “A commander has no right to remain silent about problems, especially when their cost is measured in lost opportunities, time, and human lives,” he added. Fedorov welcomed the replacement, calling it “a new era and a new hope in the fight of free people for freedom and justice” on social media just minutes after Zelensky shared the long-awaited update. In naming a commander widely seen as a reformer, Zelenskyy has answered a war-weary nation and may have defused the gravest domestic crisis of his wartime presidency, even as the fate of Fedorov, the ousted minister the protests began over, remains unsettled. “Removing Fedorov = helping the Russians” It began as a cabinet reshuffle. When Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko stepped down at Zelenskyy’s request early last week, the move dissolved the government and forced the reappointment of every minister. By Wednesday, it was clear Fedorov would not get his job back. The backlash was immediate. Col. Pavlo Yelizarov, the deputy commander of Ukraine’s air force who helped oversee the country’s defense against Russia’s nightly missile and drone barrages, resigned in protest on Thursday, writing in a Facebook post that Fedorov’s removal was “a great evil for the country’s defense capability.” The same day, Se…