“Response to loss of territory”. Why Zelenskyy promoted General Drapaty and Colonel Apostol — experts’ assessment

On November 29, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed Mykhailo Drapatoy as the new commander of the Ground Forces, and Oleg Apostol as the deputy commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces.

Such appointments are a response to the loss of territory and the unsuccessful actions of the Ground Forces in the Donetsk region, where the Ukrainian army is retreating, believes Pavlo Narozhny, a military expert and founder of the Reaktivna Poshta BO.

Drapaty is an outstanding person who has been participating in Russia’s war against Ukraine since 2014, noted Oleksandr Kovalenko, a military-political analyst of the Information Resistance group.

In 2014, the new head of the Ground Forces was the commander of the 2nd mechanized battalion of the 72nd separate mechanized brigade. Already from April of the same year, the brigade was in full force in the east of Ukraine. Drapatoy’s battalion entered Mariupol in May: it was his fighters who made the famous breakthrough through the separatist checkpoint in the city. “There is a legend that it was Drapaty who drove the BMP that drove through the barricade [навулиці Маріуполя; відео цього стрибка стало популярним уYoutube]”, Narozhny noted.

In 2016, Drapato was appointed commander of the 58th separate motorized infantry brigade, and since the summer of 2017, he was in the area of ​​anti-terrorist operation, where he managed the actions of this unit in the area of ​​the Bakhmut highway.

Until 2024, Drapaty headed the Kherson operative group. He was one of the commanders who led the liberation of the right bank of the Kherson region. In February, he was appointed deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. In addition to this, in May the general also became the commander of the Kharkiv OTUV, and in September – the Luhansk OTUV.

42-year-old Drapaty is a Knight of the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi and a People’s Hero of Ukraine.

“He is quite an experienced officer. He enjoys respect and authority in the Armed Forces, – noted Narozhny. “He is young, proactive, proactive, patriotic.” In view of this, the expert considers the appointment of Drapatoy as positive news for the Armed Forces.

The military expert explained that according to the hierarchy, Drapaty became the third person in the army: first comes the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, then the chief of the General Staff, and then the commander of the Ground Forces. “This is quite an important and responsible position,” he added.

The appointment of Oleg Apostol as the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is no less positively evaluated by experts.

“It was this person who was entrusted with great responsibility for the Kursk operation,” Kovalenko noted. “And it was his units and his command that ensured the success of such a risky operation on the enemy’s territory.”

Apostol is younger than Drapatoy, he was born in 1987, and he also took part in hostilities in the east of Ukraine since 2014.

Together with other military personnel, Apostol entered Mykolaivka in the Donetsk region four times, where he stormed the strongholds of the occupiers. Then the Ukrainian fighters opened fire on themselves in order to detect and defeat the Russian firing positions.

Until recently, Apostol commanded the 95th separate amphibious assault brigade and from August 2024 participated in the operation of the Defense Forces of Ukraine in the Kursk region.

The apostle has the title of Hero of Ukraine, and is also a full knight of the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi and a knight of the Cross of Military Merit.