Zelenskyy holds follow-up meetings with Drapatyi, Horbatiuk, Biletskyi, Obolienskyi amid command change rumors
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he held follow-up talks with senior Ukrainian military figures including Mykhailo Drapatyi, Volodymyr Horbatiuk, Andriy Biletskyi, and Ihor Obolienskyi, as speculation continues about possible changes in Ukraine’s top military command.
Drapatyi currently serves as commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and is widely seen as one of the possible candidates to become commander-in-chief.
“I am grateful for today's conversation – we covered a lot with Mykhailo Drapatyi. It is important that the experience of every component of Ukraine's Defense Forces be applied in a coordinated way,” Zelenskyy said after their conversation.
Volodymyr Horbatiuk, meanwhile, is deputy chief of the General Staff under Andriy Hnatov. Journalist Vitaliy Glagola, citing sources, said Hnatov could be dismissed along with current commander-in-chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi.
Zelenskyy described his meeting with Horbatiuk as “substantive.”
“We are discussing Ukraine's defense strategy and the details of our engagement with partners. We are accelerating the implementation of supply arrangements,” the president said.
What is known about Drapatyi?
Maj. Gen. Mykhailo Drapatyi is known in part for his role in the 2014 liberation of occupied Mariupol. On his order, on May 9 that year, Ukrainian infantry fighting vehicles broke through checkpoints in the occupied city. Drapatyi himself was in the first vehicle to cross the barriers.
In March 2022, he led the defense of Kryvyi Rih, where Russian forces were halted and the line of contact stabilized. Later, as a brigadier general, he headed the Kherson operational grouping and was among the commanders involved in the liberation of the right bank of Kherson Oblast.
In February 2024, Drapatyi was appointed deputy chief of the General Staff. In May, amid Russia’s offensive in northern Kharkiv Oblast, he also became commander of the Kharkiv operational-tactical grouping, replacing Yuriy Halushkin. In late January 2024, he was additionally appointed commander of the Khortytsia operational-strategic grouping while also serving as commander of the Land Forces.
In November 2024, Drapatyi became commander of Ukraine’s Land Forces. At the time, he promised a “large-scale” transformation of the branch, naming people, technology and transparent management as his priorities. He also said the Land Forces should become “elite.”
After a Russian missile strike hit the Cherkaske training ground in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, however, Drapatyi took responsibility and submitted his resignation. After speaking with Zelenskyy, he said he would remain in the military. In June 2025, he was appointed commander of the Joint Forces.
What is known about Horbatiuk?
Volodymyr Horbatiuk is a brigadier general. As deputy chief of the General Staff, he is responsible for operational work, staff activity, planning and command.
He is from Tyvriv in Vinnytsia Oblast. In 2008, he took part in an international peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. After studying at a military academy, he served as a battalion commander and deputy commander of the 72nd Brigade.
Horbatiuk has said Russia’s war against Ukraine caught him in Kosovo, where he was serving as contingent commander. From 2014 to 2017, he commanded the 54th Separate Hetman Ivan Mazepa Mechanized Brigade, which was based in Bakhmut. He led the brigade during fighting on the Svitlodarsk bulge. In 2015, he was awarded the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, 3rd class.
He later studied at the U.S. Army War College in Washington, where he earned a master’s degree in national security.
After returning, he was appointed deputy commander of the reserve corps, and from April 2020 became deputy commander of the Western operational command.
What is known about Biletskyi?
Andriy Biletskyi is from Kharkiv. He graduated with honors from the history faculty of V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University and worked as a lecturer at universities in Kharkiv. In 2006, he ran for parliament with the Ukrainian Conservative Party.
From 2014, he first commanded a volunteer battalion and later the Azov regiment of the National Guard. From early 2012 until the end of the Revolution of Dignity, he was a political prisoner under the Yanukovych regime. Before that, he led the nationalist organizations Patriot of Ukraine and the Social-National Assembly and took part in the “Ukraine Without Kuchma” protests.
Biletskyi also led the National Corps party. He served as a lawmaker in the eighth convocation of parliament after 2014 and ran again in 2019 on the Svoboda party list as an independent.
At the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Biletskyi formed the Azov territorial defense detachment, built around volunteer veterans. The unit was expanded and later reorganized into the Azov Special Operations Forces group. In January 2023, it was scaled up into the 3rd Assault Brigade.
What is known about Obolienskyi?
Ihor Obolienskyi graduated from the Military Institute of Missile Troops and Artillery. Despite his military education, he worked in management and executive positions in business companies.
In 2014, he served in an artillery brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and in the Omega special unit. In 2015, he was appointed commander of the 1st Battalion of the 4th Operational Brigade of the National Guard. During that period, he took part in combat for Kramatorsk and Slovyansk.
In 2019, Obolienskyi left military service and returned to business. Before the full-scale invasion, however, he rejoined the military. He went on to lead the Khartiia volunteer territorial community formation, on the basis of which the 13th Operational Brigade of the National Guard, Khartiia, was formed. In 2023, he was appointed brigade commander.
What is known about Apostol?
Major General Oleh Apostol is a career military man originally from Ivan-Frankivsk Oblast. He graduated from the Hetman Petro Sahaidachnyi National Academy of Land Forces in Lviv and since 2014 has fought as part of the 80th Separate Air Assault Brigade. Later he commanded a battalion. He was wounded in battle near Luhansk airport.
From November 2022, he was the commander of the 95th Separate Polissya Air Assault Brigade, participated in the offensive operation in Kursk. In 2024–2025, he served as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And since 2025, he became the commander of the Air Assault Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.