Mykhailo Drapatyi: Ukrainians hope new commander will end army’s ‘Soviet culture’

Drapatyi has long been a critic of the military’s command culture, but experts warn change could take time Through a haze of smoke, a lone Ukrainian armoured vehicle suddenly bursts into view. The BMP-2 accelerates towards a barricade of tyres and debris, smashing through it in seconds as protesters scatter. Behind the controls, on the chaotic streets of Mariupol on 9 May 2014, was a little-known officer named Mykhailo Drapatyi. The footage became one of the defining images of Russia’s first attempt to seize eastern Ukraine, and made Drapatyi one of the country’s earliest military heroes. Cont

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