[Skybird]

[Neue Zürcher Zeitung] Major General Michailo Drapati, one of the most capable officers, is taking over command of the Eastern Front. He has to solve huge problems.

It is a brutal start to the year that Ukraine is experiencing in the Donbass. Whether in Velika Novosilka or in Toretsk, in Chasiv Yar or at Liman and Pokrovsk: the Russians are advancing slowly but steadily. Last week they captured Velika Novosilka, an important fortress town in the south. The Ukrainians were temporarily surrounded and could only retreat with losses. Now, to the north of it, Toretsk, another town that has served as a bulwark against Moscow's aggression since 2014, is about to fall.




The importance of these places is not only great because the Ukrainians have been building a system of defensive positions here since 2014. Cities such as Toretsk and Chasiv Yar, which the Russians now also control in the majority, are located on hills and on important connecting roads. If they fall, Moscow can also open fire on the defenders' hinterland and cut off supplies on a broad basis. The Donbass front is under more pressure than ever before in the last two and a half years. A liberation strike would be urgently needed for Kiev, both militarily and politically.

At least in terms of personnel, President Selensky made a decision on Sunday that military experts see as a significant improvement: He appointed the army commander, Major General Mikhailo Drapati, as the new head of the Khortizia regional command. This is responsible for the entire front section south of Kharkiv to the Donetsk region, i.e. practically the entire east.

Selensky has high hopes for 42-year-old Drapati, who has been fighting in the army almost continuously for over ten years. The western Ukrainian became known throughout the country in May 2014 as the commander of the "flying armored personnel carrier": at the time, he broke through a blockade by Russian-backed separatists in Mariupol, who were besieging the local police station. Drapati and his 72nd mechanized brigade played a decisive role in ensuring that the city remained Ukrainian.

A month later, he and his troops were caught in the so-called Iswarine pocket during a risky operation on the border between the Luhansk region and Russia. There, one of the most momentous Ukrainian defeats of the first phase of the war occurred. However, Drapati was one of the few to lead his unit out of the encirclement. In the years that followed, he took command of the 58th Brigade and continued his training. After the Russian invasion in 2022, the officer, who had since been promoted to brigadier general, commanded defensive operations in Krivi Rih and Odessa before becoming deputy chief of the general staff in early 2024.



Drapati is considered a capable organizer, a reputation that he further cemented in the spring of 2024: At that time, he took command of the Kharkiv sector of the front, where the defense was initially chaotic after Russia's surprise advance. As a young officer who owes his career not to good relationships but primarily to his skills on the battlefield, Drapati is respected by experts and popular in the troops.

They also credit him with communicating more openly than is usual in the Ukrainian generals, who tend to be optimistic and secretive. When he took over command of the army at the end of November, Drapati announced reforms in recruitment and practical training. There should be no more corruption, and the infantry's equipment must be significantly improved.

He thus addressed the central problems. He also spoke plainly about the scandal surrounding the 155th Brigade, which was trained and equipped with French help. The fact that the critical military journalist Yuri Butusov led a semi-official investigation into the misconduct and published the results was probably only possible because of his close relationship with Drapati.

Nevertheless, the Ukrainians should not be under any illusions that the enormous problems on the Eastern Front will simply disappear with a more capable commander. The lack of infantry is largely due to the fact that mobilization is taking place without a clear plan, richer Ukrainians can buy their way out, and soldiers in the army are only discharged if they are seriously wounded. The lack of communication between different units is also due to the fact that there is a high level of fluctuation in the higher-level regional command in Khortytsia without clear responsibilities. Drapati, who has now gained a reputation as a "fire extinguisher" on the most difficult sections of the front, therefore has little time to remedy the situation.

First of all, the new commander must ensure that the retreat from Velika Novosilka does not turn into an uncontrolled flight. If Toretsk and Chasiv Yar fall further north, the Russian advance towards the last Donbass strongholds of Kostyantinivka and Kramatorsk could accelerate: in the flat steppe there are few natural obstacles outside the fortified towns, and the Ukrainians have so far found it difficult to build strong defensive lines in the fields. It is therefore quite possible that the fighting will soon spread to the Dnipropetrovsk region west of the Donbass.
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