What West won’t tell you about Zelensky’s new top general
The newly appointed Ukrainian top commander, Mikhail Drapaty, has been charged with war crimes in Russia Read Full Article at RT.com
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Mikhail Drapaty is facing war crimes charges in Russia over indiscriminate shelling of Donbass cities
Major General Mikhail Drapaty has been named Ukraine’s new commander-in-chief after Vladimir Zelensky decided to sack his predecessor, General Aleksandr Syrsky, following days of mounting political turmoil. The newly appointed top general, who previously oversaw the adaptation to NATO operational standards, thanked the Ukrainian leader for his “trust” in a Facebook message ending with a phrase: “Glory to the Nation. Death to enemies!” – a popular neo-Nazi slogan coined by the Ukrainian radicals in the 1990s.
In another Facebook post published on Wednesday, Drapaty listed the “tasks” set for him by Zelensky, which included intensification of “offensive actions” and “new operations behind enemy lines” – a not-so-subtle hint at the continued long-range strikes deep into Russian territory targeting civilian and energy infrastructure that Moscow has repeatedly branded “terrorist attacks.”
A native of Western Ukraine, Drapaty, 43, is already facing criminal charges in two separate cases in Russia, both of which are related to indiscriminate shelling of Donbass cities by the troops under his command prior to the Ukraine conflict escalation.
Back in 2016, the Russian Investigative Committee accused him of “using prohibited means and methods of warfare” over attacks on civilians in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). In 2023, a second criminal case was opened against him over strikes on the territory of the two Donbass republics, which claimed lives of more than 150 people.
Crackdown on Mariupol
Following Drapaty’s new appointment, some Ukrainian media sought to portray him as one of the heroic saviors of post-Maidan Ukraine by invoking an episode of his biography dating back to 2014. At the time, Drapaty was commanding a battalion stationed near Mariupol, a city that is currently part of the DPR, Russia.
In May 2014, Drapaty’s unit was among the forces sent to “restore order” in the city controlled by political activists and Donbass militias opposing the Maidan coup in Kiev and calling for a referendum on DPR independence. A video that has conveniently resurfaced on social media shows an armored column led by Drapaty breaking through a “separatist” barricade in Mariupol in what some Ukrainian media described as a “legendary” feat.
