Zaluzhnyi warns new AFU commander Drapatyi: “It will be very hard”

Former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Kyiv’s ambassador to the United Kingdom Valerii Zaluzhnyi has warned the new AFU commander Mykhailo Drapatyi about what awaits him in the role.

“The new Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will have a very hard time. Much harder than he imagines,” — Zaluzhnyi wrote on his Telegram channel.

On July 21, it became known that Oleksandr Syrskyi had been dismissed from the post of AFU commander-in-chief. Syrskyi himself confirmed his departure, noting that he was leaving the Ukrainian army “in an offensive posture.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Syrskyi, who had held the position of commander-in-chief since 2024, for his work and announced the appointment of Mykhailo Drapatyi to the post.

The outlet RBK-Ukraine suggests that the replacement of the AFU commander-in-chief could lead to a split within the country’s armed forces. According to the journalists, the Ukrainian army is “not entirely homogeneous”: among the military there are both open critics of the now-resigned Syrskyi and those who remained publicly silent but harbored discontent. The outlet does not rule out that with the arrival of the new commander-in-chief, a purge of all those who worked with Syrskyi may begin.