Zelenskyy appoints new Air Assault and Unmanned Systems force commanders

“This is another step toward focusing on operational matters; the successful experience of our best brigades will be scaled up throughout the army,” Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post.

The president also announced that Col. Vadym Sukharevskyi, who led the Unmanned Systems Forces since its inception in June 2024, has been appointed deputy commander of the Eastern Operational Command.

In addition, Maj. Gen. Ihor Skibyuk, who has commanded the Air Assault Forces since February 2024, will be named deputy chief of the General Staff.

Earlier the same day, Zelenskyy appointed former Ground Forces chief Maj. Gen. Mykhailo Drapatyi as the new Joint Forces Commander.

Oleg Apostol has fought in eastern Ukraine since 2014. In September 2022, Apostol commanded assault units during the liberation of Kharkiv Oblast. He later led the 95th Assault Brigade before Zelenskyy appointed him Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in November 2024.

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Robert ‘Madyar’ Brovdi was a businessman. When the invasion began, he volunteered to serve in Kyiv’s territorial defense troops and led a platoon of the 206th Battalion. By June 2022, Brovdi created the aerial reconnaissance unit Madyar’s Birds, which has since evolved into the 414th Strike UAV Brigade with Ukraine’s Ground Forces.