Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on 22 July 2026.

He was born on 21 November 1982 in Kamianets-Podilskyi, Khmelnytskyi region. He graduated from the Kharkiv Military Institute of Tank Troops in 2004. In June 2017 he earned a master’s degree at the National Defence University of Ukraine in Kyiv, and continued his studies there from 2019 to 2021.

He began his service in 2004 with the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade. In May 2014, during the fighting for Mariupol, he commanded the brigade’s 2nd Mechanized Battalion, which entered the city to free hostages. In the summer of that year he brought the unit out of encirclement near the border with russia, together with more than 30 pieces of equipment. He went on to serve with the 30th Separate Mechanized Brigade as Chief of Staff and First Deputy Brigade Commander.

In August 2016 he took command of the 58th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade, which carried out combat missions in Avdiivka, the Yasynuvata district and along the Bakhmut road until August 2019.

At the start of 2022 he held the post of Deputy Commander of the Joint Forces for Training. In March 2022 he was appointed Deputy Commander of Operational Command South and Commander of the South Group of Forces. From 2022 to 2024 he commanded the Kherson Operational Group of Forces within the Odesa Operational-Strategic Group of Forces. In February 2024 he was appointed Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Training.

In May 2024, after russian forces launched their offensive in Kharkiv region, he took charge of the Kharkiv Operational-Tactical Group of Forces, and in September that year of the Luhansk Operational-Tactical Group of Forces, with an area of responsibility running from Bilohorivka to the town of New York in Donetsk region.

On 29 November 2024 he was appointed Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. On 26 January 2025 he took charge of the Khortytsia Operational-Strategic Group of Forces. On 3 June 2025 he was appointed Commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and on 20 October 2025 he took command of the newly created Joint Forces Task Force.

He holds the Cross of Military Merit (27 July 2022) and the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, 1st Class (21 July 2022), 2nd Class (15 March 2018) and 3rd Class (22 August 2016).