President Zelenskyy has appointed Brigadier General Hennadii Shapovalov as the new Commander of the Ground Forces. The appointment was announced in Decree No. 412/2025, published on the official presidential website. Shapovalov succeeds Mykhailo Drapatyi, who resigned following the tragedy at the 239th Training Range Center, where a Russian strike killed soldiers from a training battalion on June 1.
The Ground Forces of Ukraine, the largest branch of the Ukrainian Army, had been without an appointed commander for over two weeks. This situation was unusual, and finding a replacement for Drapatyi took longer than anticipated.
About Shapovalov
Hennadii Shapovalov was born in 1978 in the Kirovohrad region. He graduated from the Institute of Tank Troops at Kharkiv State University, the Command and Staff Institute for Troop Employment at the National Defense University, the National University of Ostroh Academy, and the U.S. Army War College.
He served at all levels of military service, starting as a tank platoon commander and becoming the commander of the 59th Motorized Brigade in 2019. In 2021, he headed the Main Directorate for Military Cooperation of the Armed Forces. In 2024, he was appointed commander of the Strategic Group Tavria, and later that same year, he became the commander of Operational Command South. In February 2025, he joined the mission in Wiesbaden, where NATO’s Assistance and Training Command for Ukraine is based.
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