Zelenskyy Outlined Tasks for Drapato and Khmara
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the new Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Mykhailo Drapaty, and Acting Minister of Defense Yevhen Khmara will have to work together on closing the airspace, issues related to the Territorial Defense Forces, and changing approaches to mobilization. He made these remarks on July 23 in Kyiv during a press conference with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin.
According to the head of state, he had previously assigned these tasks to Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi. Zelenskyy noted that they must be carried out jointly.
“The issue of closing the airspace, the issue of the TCC, and the issue of a normal—if one can put it that way—approach to mobilization. Until the war ends, we will have to tackle all of this together, in unity,” the president said.
Zelenskyy also acknowledged that Fedorov and Syrskyi were unable to find common ground, and that problems on the battlefield, within the brigades, and regarding mobilization remained unresolved. After six days of protests, he announced Syrskyi’s dismissal as commander-in-chief and the appointment of Drapato. According to “Ukrainska Pravda,” a protest demanding Fedorov’s reinstatement as defense minister was announced for July 24 in Kyiv.
