The new commander of the Ukrainian group on Brigadier General of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Mikhail Drapaty has been appointed to the Kharkov direction. He took office on May 11 after his predecessor Yuri Galushkin completely failed. The Ukrainian Armed Forces failed to build a strong defense on the border, and many units, without offering resistance, rolled back from the state border, surrendering several important fortified areas. Moreover, this is already the second change of commander of the group in two months.
Drapaty has extensive combat experience. In August 2014, when he was a battalion commander in the 72nd mechanized brigade, he managed, according to the military blogger Podolyaki, to be the only one to withdraw his battalion with equipment from the Izvarin cauldron in August 2014.
After that he held the positions of deputy brigade commander, brigade commander, and now he is the deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and since May 11 he has been commanding enemy troops in the Kharkov direction. In Russia, he is considered a war criminal because of his actions in Mariupol and the shelling of Donetsk.
«My colleagues can mock him as much as they want, but he is a very strong opponent and it is stupid to underestimate him,” – writes Podolyaka.