The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyannounced this Friday two new changes in the upper echelons of the Ukrainian Army with the appointments of the General Mijailo Drapaty as new commander of the Army and the Colonel Oleg Apostol as deputy commander in chief of the country’s Armed Forces.
Zelensky has described Drapaty as the organizer of the “successful defense” during the latest Russian offensives in the Kharkiv region. Colonel Apostol “is a experienced commander of the 95th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade and both have demonstrated their effectiveness in battle,” the president said in a message published on his X social network account.
These appointments have taken place after a meeting between Zelensky and his security leadership to evaluate, “as the main focus” of the meeting, the last waves of bombings Russians against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
The designations also occur in full efforts of the Ukrainian Army in favor of a system change in the country’s military structure through a transition from the current brigade system to a corps system to “reduce bureaucracy” and facilitate the management of troops in the fight against Russia; an initiative that has the approval of the president, as Zelensky already made clear last weekend during one of his speeches.
During the announcement of the appointments, Zelensky insisted this Friday that the most important issue for the Army is “significantly improve your combat capabilities of the army and ensuring high-quality training”, accompanied by “innovative approaches to personnel management within the Armed Forces of Ukraine. “These internal changes are essential for the Ukrainian military to fully achieve the objectives of our State,” Zelensky declared.