Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has fired Oleksandr Syrskii as the country’s commander-in-chief, appointing Mykhailo Drapatyi to lead the military.

The move comes after six days of protests in the capital, Kyiv, sparked by the removal of Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who had previously clashed with Syrskii.

Zelenskyy said Tuesday’s decision to appoint Drapatyi was made to “reset” the ongoing defence against Russia’s invading troops.

“I am grateful to Oleksandr Syrskyi and to every one of our warriors for Ukraine’s strong front-line positions,” Zelenskyy said in a statement on social media. “I am grateful to Mykhailo Drapatyi for holding that same view.”

“Our shared wish is one – victory over the enemy and conditions at the front and in pressure on Russia that would force Russia toward peace,” he added. He emphasised the need to address friction within the military leadership and resolve persistent issues concerning mobilisation and front-line management.

Fedorov, who was seen by many as pivotal to the war effort, was removed from his post last week, leading to widespread anger across Ukraine. Before his dismissal, the former defence minister had publicly criticised Syrskii, saying the general was blocking his reform efforts and needed to be replaced if Ukraine were to defeat Russia’s invasion.

Fedorov has been attempting to advance drone innovation and more reliance on technology, but had accused Syrskii – seen as more of a traditionalist – of sabotaging his work.

Zelenskyy met with Fedorov on Tuesday and offered him what he called “a respected position in the government that would unify the country’s technology sector”. It was not clear if Fedorov accepted the offer, according to the Associated Press news agency.

It is unclear if the changes will pacify the demonstrators, who have been demanding accountability and a more effective military strategy, with many criticising Syrskii and Zelenskyy’s handling of the war effort amid rising Ukrainian casualties.

Russia said on Wednesday that Ukraine’s appointment of a new commander-in-chief will not change the situation on the front line.

“I don’t think this will lead to any changes on the front lines,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that Moscow intends to continue pressing in its its almost four-and-a-half-year offensive.

Intensifying Russia-Ukraine attacks

Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that the unit documented that 1,396 civilians were killed and 7,978 were wounded in Ukraine in the first six months of 2026.

That was a 37 percent increase from the same period the previous year and “almost doubled what we documented in 2024”, she said.

Both Moscow and Kyiv have intensified air strikes in recent months, targeting each other’s vital infrastructure, as United States-led talks on ending Russia’s invasion remain stalled, with Washington’s focus largely turned towards its war on Iran.

Russia has frequently used ballistic missiles, while Kyiv is currently short of Patriot interceptor munitions, which are crucial to defend against the attacks.

In retaliation, Ukraine is intensifying its strikes on Russian territory, mainly targeting oil depots. A series of Ukrainian drone ⁠attacks killed at least eight warehouse workers in Russia on ⁠Saturday and injured dozens more, while another attack caused a fire at an oil depot outside Moscow.

New military leader Drapatyi is regarded as a disciplined and highly effective officer, and has been praised for his role in stopping Russia’s advances in its 2014 invasion of eastern Ukraine. Russia then launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In 2024, Drapatyi took command of forces that halted Russia’s advance on Zelenskyy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih and helped push Russian troops back from parts of the Kherson region, before organising the defence that blunted a renewed Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region.

Zelenskyy named him ground forces commander later that year, a post from which he resigned in 2025, after a Russian strike on a ground-forces training centre killed several Ukrainian troops.