Ukraine’s New Commander Names Combat-Tested General to Number Two Job

Another new generation officer with deep combat experience and a solid record of NATO military cooperation was promoted to top-level command in Ukraine on Wednesday, with General Serhiy Sobko’s appointment to the second highest military job in the country, Vice Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). Vinnytsia native Serhii Sobko, 42, will serve as the primary subordinate to AFU commander Mykhailo Drapaty, a widely respected, combat veteran general named by President Volodymyr Zelensky as the AFU’s new commander on July 21, in a shake-up of Ukraine’s national security leadership.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. The AFU main website identified Sobko in the job on Wednesday afternoon, and most major Ukrainian media confirmed his appointment the same day. Defense Minister Yevhen Hmara in a statement published on Thursday, said that he had already met with Drapaty and Sobko to discuss further work together. The Ukrainian top-level command group (Hmara, Drapaty, and Sobko) later in the morning held talks with a military delegation from Ukraine’s key ally Great Britain to discuss air defense, cooperation in aerospace projects, and joint development of drones, the statement said. According to news reports, Britain’s contribution to Ukrainian defense in 2026 will be equivalent to $4 billion. Like Drapaty, Sobko is well-known in the AFU as an opponent of Soviet-style tactics and traditions, an advocate of more modern tactics and equipment, and an outspoken supporter of promotion of younger officers with actual combat experience ahead of officers with longer service time but in rear area units. Other Topics of Interest Trump’s Top Peace Envoys Set for First Kyiv Trip as Ukraine Seeks War Exit Talks Acting Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine is awaiting a US negotiating team as Kyiv seeks to restart peace talks on ending Russia's war. Prior to the vice army commander appointment, Sobko had been serving as a top officer in Ukraine’s 11th Army Corps, a major formation currently conducting defensive operations in the eastern Donetsk-Siversk sector. According to army sources, Sobko had been appointed to that job in April following the collapse of a sector of the front held by the 11th and the sacking of its commander for ground lost to Russian forces. Popular Ukrainian milblogger Serhiy Sternenko (850,000+ followers) said of Sobko’s appointment: “This is very good, Mr. Sobko is a valuable and intelligent general. I wish him success and strength! Good news!” Mariana Bezhula, a Ukrainian parliament member often critical of old generation commanders in the AFU, on Wednesday said of Sobko: “He constantly, often hopelessly, fought for standards in the army...Despite repressions [by the Old Guard AFU chain of command], he was not afraid to express his opinion, including publicly...Sobko is not liked by many among the career officers, and now he has a chance to prove whether it is possible to clean up the system and rebuild the army without seeking the approval of the absolute majority of stagnant colonels and generals.”Sobko first saw combat as a battalion commander in the AFU’s 30th Mechanized Brigade in defensive battles fought against regular Russian army and separatist troops attacking Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region in 2014. He was awarded the country’s highest bravery award, the Hero of Ukraine medal, for leading a force of mech infantrymen, air assault troopers and tank units out of a Russian encirclement. The battle later was depicted in a film, helping make Sobko one of Ukraine’s first publicly acknowledged war heroes. During the years 2016-2021, Sobko commanded troops deployed to eastern Ukraine manning positions along a theoretical “ceasefire line” that saw exchanges of small arms and artillery fire almost daily, and regular casualties. Following Russia’s second invasion of Ukraine, in February 2022, Sobko, as commander of the newly formed Territorial Forces of the AFU and Kyiv military commandant, played a critical role in organizing and arming untrained civilians volunteering to defend major cities, particularly around the capital. The presence of a reported 15,000-30,000 untrained but enthusiastic territorial troops fighting on familiar ground in the suburbs and forests around Kyiv helped repel a Russian attempt to force a quick regime change in Ukraine. Focused training to identify talented civilians and teach them how to be competent small unit commanders has been a longtime Sobko priority. Compared to most AFU officers, Sobko is one of the service’s most experienced with other countries’ militaries. His first significant association with foreign troops was as part of a Ukrainian contingent to Kosovo in 2007-2008 for the UN multinational peacekeeping mission there. He also attended a winter warfare school in Norway, a military observer course in Germany, and an English-language course run by the Canadian military. In the US, he attended the nine-month advanced infantry officers’ course in Fort Benning, Georgia from start to finish. He was later selected for study at the elite US Army Command and General Staff College in 2014, but did not attend because Russia invaded Ukraine, so he returned home. Sobko replaces General Andriy Lebedenko, a rear services specialist in communications, cyber security, and military tech innovation. During his tour as the AFU’s number two officer, Lebedenko was best-known for massed fielding of Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV) and improving the range and destructiveness of Ukrainian strategic strike drones. On Thursday, the military news channel Ukraine Context (94,000 followers) reported General Drapaty’s next major personnel move would be to make soldier-activist Valery Markus the AFU’s Command Sergeant Major (CSM). The slot is the Ukrainian military’s senior enlisted position and its holder in the past has focused on individual soldier-related issues like food, personal equipment, and small unit leader training. The new CSM would get the job of overhauling the AFU’s junior sergeant training problem, that report said. A former paratrooper with combat experience dating back to 2014 and a widely read blogger, Markus is a high-profile critic of what he has called outdated tactics, dishonest reporting, and sometimes cynical careerism prevalent in parts of the AFU officer corps. Mainstream Ukrainian media repeated the Ukraine Context report but did not confirm it. Markus, by Thursday afternoon, had not commented on the report. Stefan Korshak is the Kyiv Post Senior Defense Correspondent. He is from Houston Texas, is a Yalie and since the mid-1990s has worked as correspondent/photographer for newswire, newspapers, television and radio. He has reported from five wars but most enjoys doing articles on wildlife and nature. You can read his weekly blog on the Russo-Ukraine War on Facebook, Substack and Medium. His new book on the 2022 Siege of Mariupol is available on Amazon UK and Amazon US.