The reshuffle comes after almost a week of nationwide unrest and represents one of the biggest political crises since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
Maj. Gen. Mykhailo Drapatyi faces a balancing act between asserting the independence favored by military reformers and accommodating political input on battlefield strategy.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi as commander-in-chief of Ukraine's armed forces, following days of mass protests in Kyiv and other cities nationwide demanding his removal.