Drapatyi, 43, is seen as a consensus candidate and popular choice
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced Mykhailo Drapatyi as the country’s new commander-in-chief, following a political crisis triggered by Zelenskyy’s surprise ousting of a young modernising defence minister.
The 43-year-old Drapatyi replaces Oleksandr Syrskyi, 60, an accomplished military strategist but who was long criticised for Soviet-style practices and not caring about human losses.
Fighting Russian separatists
Drapatyi is a career military officer trained exclusively inside Ukraine’s independent, post-Soviet system.
