Generation Shift: Veteran Marine Commander Takes Over Ukraine’s General Staff Top Job

Major General Andrii Hnatov, a high-profile member of a new generation of combat leaders now reaching the uppermost echelons of the Ukrainian military, was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) on Sunday, a Defense Ministry statement said.

Hnatov, 45, is a marine officer with over 27 years of continuous military service. In 2014 he was one of a few hundred Ukrainian marines stationed in Crimea that stayed loyal to Kyiv after Russia invaded and annexed the peninsula.

Originally trained as a tank platoon commander, Hnatov’s first combat experience was as a staff officer and later commander of the elite 36th Marine Brigade from 2016-2018, during Russia’s first invasion of Ukraine. Hnatov went on to establish a reputation as a fierce defender at the head of increasingly larger commands in Kherson, Bakhmut, and joint forces east sectors.

Hnatov replaced Lieutenant General Anatoliy Barhylevych, 55, an officer without battle command experience who had served in senior AFU staff positions since the 2010s.

The Chief of General Staff is the senior planner within the military structure and is directly subordinate to armed forces commander General Oleksandr Syrsky. Hnatov and Syrsky have worked together directly in various capacities since early 2024.

The appointment order said Hnatov’s main tasks would be improving the efficiency of chain-of-command, implementing a new corps headquarters system intended to make the AFU better able to maneuver large ground formations, and “implementing combat experience in planning and commanding troops.”

Hnatov’s career shot skyward in mid-2024 following fierce battles on the war’s eastern front during Russia’s summer and fall offensives towards the strategically important city of Pokrovsk. Ukrainian defenses eventually held after grudgingly losing ground, and in recent weeks, Kyiv’s troops have launched local counterattacks in some sectors.

Hnatov, along with his area commander in that sector, Major General Myhailo Drapaty, were often credited in the AFU for using drone-heavy defensive tactics trading small patches of ground for crushing Russian casualties. Both are generally popular with troops for avoiding frontal attacks and enforcing coordination between adjacent units.

In January, Hnatov was however criticized for the loss of the key Donbas town of Nova Vasylivka, while he was the area commander. Following that defeat, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shifted Hnatov to vice head of the General Staff in Kyiv, and named Drapaty as the joint forces east commander.

News of Hnatov’s Sunday promotion to head the general staff drew generally positive reaction across Ukraine’s dense and often outspoken military media.

The Ukrainian blogger Vertikal, a political writer with more than 170,000 followers, wrote: “Hnatov is a very strong officer, the future of our army depends on officers like this.”

A Hnatov biography, published by the military information platform Glavkom, on Monday said he would likely prioritize increased use of drones, better protection of frontline troops, more investment in air defense systems and precision-guided weapons, and higher quality training.

MP Mariyana Bezhula, a frequent critic of Ukraine’s General Staff and particularly Soviet-trained officers like army overall commander Oleksander Syrsky, in a Sunday evening post on her personal Telegram channel said that Hnatov was a step in the right direction, but, in her view, the top leadership of the AFU has a long way to go.

“Hnatov is much more modern than most officers… but he leans towards being a yes-man, and he avoids situations that require taking a clear position. Barhylevych is a long-time ‘minion’ of Syrsky’s. Now that he will run the Main Inspectorate of the Ministry of Defense…nothing in the Armed Forces will be checked and (problems will be) kept quiet about as much as possible.”

Barhylevych will take command of the Main Inspectorate of the Ministry of Defense and be responsible for “reforming the Main Inspectorate and implementing modern control mechanisms in the Defense Forces,” Ukraine Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said in a statement.

As head of army planning for Ukraine’s invasion of Russia – an ambitious operation launched in August and defeated by superior Russian and North Korean forces this month – Barhylevych and the general staff had been criticized in local media for failing to respond to intensifying Russian attacks and ultimately for loss of the salient. Reports of Barhylevych’s impending replacement because of the deteriorating Kursk situation first surfaced in Ukraine’s public domain in December.

Umerov’s comments did not mention the Kursk operation. The announcement praised Barhylevych for contributions to Ukrainian fighting capacity and predicted he would play an important role in his new job as army Inspector General.