President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that a young major general, Mykhailo Drapatyi, would replace Oleksandr Syrskyi after days of street protests.Ukrainian soldiers fire missiles from a BM-21 Grad MLR in the Oleksandrivka sector, Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, in June.Dmytro Smolienko / NurPhoto via Getty ImagesJuly 22, 2026, 3:40 AM EDT / Updated July 22, 2026, 3:42 AM EDT / Source: ReutersBy ReutersUkraine has recaptured 270 sq miles of its territory this year, outgoing Commander in Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Wednesday, confirming he was leaving the top military job.“I am handing over to my successor an army that is not only holding the defense but is also on the offensive,” Syrskyi said in a statement on Telegram.President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that a young major general, Mykhailo Drapatyi, would replace Syrskyi after days of street protests.The move followed the ousting in a wider government reshuffle last week of tech-savvy reformist defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov, which brought out into the open the deep divisions in the Ukrainian defense leadership.Oleksandr Syrskyi and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kharkiv, Ukraine in 2022.Metin Aktaş / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images fileSyrskyi has held the commander in chief position since early 2024, after playing key roles in Kyiv’s defense in the early days of the war and in a lightning counteroffensive to retake swathes of the northeastern Kharkiv region in 2022.But he has faced harsh criticism for a rigid command style which some service members have said resulted in unjustifiably high troop losses.In his statement he highlighted his track record, including stopping a Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region, and an operation in Russia’s Kursk region in 2024.