Zelensky
Dismisses Ukraine’s Top General After Protests
The move
followed the firing of a popular defense minister, who had clashed with the
general over how to fight the war.
Marc
Santora
By Marc
Santora
July 21,
2026
President
Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine removed his top general on Tuesday night amid
swelling public protests and growing concerns that the national unity that had
helped the country survive nearly five years of war was in danger of
fracturing.
The
dismissal of the general, Oleksandr Syrskyi, was a major reversal for Mr.
Zelensky, who just days earlier sided with him and fired Ukraine’s defense
minister, Mykhailo Fedorov.
Mr.
Zelensky said he was replacing General Syrskyi with Maj. Gen. Mykhailo
Drapatyi, the commander of the Joint Forces. The choice was likely to please
the protesters, after Mr. Drapatyi had publicly sided with Mr. Fedorov in his
clash with General Syrskyi over warfighting strategy.
Thousands
of people had joined mass demonstrations to pressure Mr. Zelensky to change
course and reaffirm Mr. Fedorov’s vision of warfare as increasingly dominated
by drones and robots. As he championed a military overhaul that leaned into
high-tech innovation, Mr. Fedorov, 35, emerged as a symbol of hope to many
Ukrainians, particularly young people.
General
Drapatyi, 43, is part of a younger generation of Ukrainian officers. After
Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, he built a reputation as a
frontline commander focused on tactical innovation, drone integration and
direct accountability. He is generally highly regarded by rank-and-file
soldiers and military reformers alike.
In a
statement, Mr. Fedorov called General Drapatyi’s appointment “a breath of fresh
air and a new source of hope,” adding that “the voice of change” could “no
longer be ignored.”
Mr.
Fedorov’s dismissal last week after only six months as defense minister came as
Ukraine seemed to finally have regained the initiative in the war, in large
part through the increasingly effective use of long- and medium-range drones to
strike targets in Russia and Crimea.
Mr.
Zelensky said that he had been forced to choose between Mr. Fedorov and General
Syrskyi as the differences between their camps had become impossible to
resolve.
Ultimately,
as the protests grew, it became clear that the rift extended far beyond a clash
of personalities. For many Ukrainians, Mr. Fedorov embodied a tech-driven path
to victory that might spare lives, while General Syrskyi had come to represent
the darkest, most punishing realities of a war fought through sheer attrition.
General
Syrskyi, 60, played a crucial role in the defense of Kyiv early in the war and
in a counteroffensive in Kharkiv in September 2022. He was appointed commander
in chief of the armed forces in February 2024.
In a
statement on Tuesday night, Mr. Zelensky praised the general for his service,
saying that he had “delivered results” and that “every warrior deserves to be
treated with dignity.”
Like many
senior Ukrainian commanders, General Syrskyi was trained in the Soviet military
system, where personal loyalty was frequently valued over tactical innovation.
Critics described him as rigid and out of touch, and he never won widespread
public admiration.
During
the prolonged and bloody 2023 battle of Bakhmut, General Syrskyi earned the
nickname “the Butcher” for his perceived tolerance of high casualties for
limited tactical gains. It was a narrative he disputed, saying that preserving
soldiers’ lives was his top priority.
Criticism
of General Syrskyi erupted almost immediately after Mr. Fedorov was fired.
Veterans, analysts and active-duty soldiers accused General Syrskyi of blocking
initiatives to adapt to a rapidly changing battlefield. Protesters took to the
streets with signs bearing variations of “Fedorov is innovation, old grandpas
are degeneration.”
Mr.
Fedorov said that the military establishment had resisted procurement reforms
that he championed to promote competition and to sever informal ties between
the General Staff and politically connected arms manufacturers.
He
accused General Syrskyi of maneuvering behind the scenes to preserve his own
power and said that instead of defeating Russia, the general had “figured out
how to split the country.”
The
situation reached a breaking point as dissent within the military spilled into
the open.
Last
week, General Drapatyi issued a rare public statement supporting Mr. Fedorov,
writing, “Silence does not protect the army; it only allows mistakes to
accumulate.”
Col.
Pavlo Yelizarov, a deputy commander of the air force, submitted his
resignation, calling Mr. Fedorov’s removal “a great blow to the country’s
defense.”
Faced
with this deepening turmoil, Mr. Zelensky met with brigade commanders to hear
their concerns. His office urged patience at home while seeking to reassure
allies abroad.
“The
situation is being resolved professionally, constructively and in the interests
of our state,” Kyrylo Budanov, the former intelligence chief who is now the
head of the president’s office, said in a statement. “I ask everyone to remain
calm.”
“The
enemy is closely watching every one of our internal disagreements and is
waiting for us to start fighting among ourselves,” he said. “To our enemies, I
say this directly: You will not live to see it.”
Mr.
Zelensky spent days huddled with senior military leaders from across the ranks
and sought to bring Mr. Fedorov back into the fold.
After
meeting with the president, Mr. Fedorov said a constructive dialogue to address
his concerns had begun. “There will definitely be changes,” he said in a
statement.
Since
Ukrainians have largely accepted that there can be no elections while the war
rages, mass demonstrations have become a pressure release valve and a check on
power.
Last
year, tens of thousands of Ukrainians staged protests across the country after
an effort by Mr. Zelensky to neuter the nation’s anti-corruption agencies. The
government quickly changed course in response to the protests.
The
demonstrations that followed Mr. Fedorov’s firing exposed long-simmering
tensions within the military. The infighting was profoundly dangerous, soldiers
said, because it could undermine combat cohesion and worsen the military’s
personnel crisis by driving disillusioned troops toward desertion.
General
Syrskyi remained largely silent as the controversy swirled, posting only videos
of himself meeting with commanders on the front. But on Monday, he published a
column in the Militarnyi news outlet to respond to what he called a “mythology
about conflicts” and to defend his tenure.
He wrote
that he was surprised to learn of any conflict with Mr. Fedorov and apologized
if any offense had been taken.
“Ukraine
is bigger than Fedorov, Syrskyi and any of us,” he wrote. “Ukraine will stand
not because it has irreplaceable people, but because it has an army,
institutions and millions of people who do their job. Reducing this war to a
confrontation between two people is the greatest service we can do to the
enemy.”
Ultimately,
Mr. Zelensky concluded that removing the general was the only way to restore
unity.
Cassandra
Vinograd contributed reporting.
Marc
Santora has been reporting from Ukraine since the beginning of the war with
Russia. He was previously based in London as an international news editor
focused on breaking news events and earlier the bureau chief for East and
Central Europe, based in Warsaw. He has also reported extensively from Iraq and
Africa.
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