Major General Ihor Skybiuk will become the new Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Wednesday, July 22, completing a major overhaul of Ukraine’s military leadership.
Zelensky said the decision was made together with Ukraine’s newly appointed Commander-in-Chief Mykhailo Drapaty and acting defense minister Yevhen Khmara, adding that Skybiuk is an “experienced military officer.”
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“Together with Mykhailo Drapaty and Yevhen Khmara, we decided that the new Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be Major General Ihor Skybiuk – a very experienced military officer who, together with the new Commander-in-Chief, defended Ukraine shoulder to shoulder,” Zelensky wrote on social media.
The appointment comes amid a major wartime military leadership overhaul, triggered by Mykhailo Fedorov’s July 15 dismissal as defense minister, a move that triggered protests and sharpened debate over the future of Ukraine’s military modernization.
Skybiuk, who has served as deputy chief of the General Staff since 2025, previously commanded Ukraine’s Air Assault Forces. In 2022, he led the 80th Separate Air Assault Brigade during the Kharkiv counteroffensive, which helped liberate Izium.
Hours earlier, late Tuesday, July 21, Zelensky dismissed Oleksandr Syrsky as AFU commander-in-chief and appointed 43-year-old Drapaty as his replacement.
On Monday, July 20, former SBU Special Forces chief Yevhen Khmara took over Ukraine’s Defense Ministry following Zelensky’s decision four days earlier to appoint him as acting defense minister following the ouster of reformist Mykhailo Fedorov.
Fedorov Responds to Syrsky's Dismissal, Calls Drapaty 'New Hope'
Fedorov Backs Drapaty, Syrsky Defends Record
Former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov welcomed Drapaty’s appointment as “a breath of fresh air and new hope,” saying it reflected “the voice of change that could not be ignored.”
He thanked Syrsky for his wartime service but urged the new commander to accelerate reforms, including frontline robotization, asymmetric tactics and pressure on Russia’s war economy.
Syrsky, meanwhile, defended his record after stepping down, saying he would “serve Ukraine until Victory.”
He highlighted his role in the defense of Kyiv, the Kharkiv counteroffensive, operations against Wagner forces in Donetsk Oblast and the defense of Avdiivka.
Syrsky defended the 2024 Kursk operation, saying it was aimed at disrupting Russia’s planned offensive against Sumy and Kharkiv, not occupying Russian territory.
“Our goal was never the occupation of foreign land,” he wrote, adding that the operation forced Russia to redeploy forces and helped replenish Ukraine’s prisoner exchange pool.
He also pointed to reforms launched under his command, including the creation of the Unmanned Systems Forces, drone air defense units and the transition to a corps-based military structure.
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