Ukrainian Armed Forces

The Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF, Ukrainian: Збройні сили України, ZSU) comprise Ukraine's army, navy, air force, airborne assault forces, special operations forces and an expanding drone warfare branch. With over 700,000 personnel under arms, it is the largest land force in Europe outside Russia. Since February 2022 it has combined attritional territorial defence with deep-strike offensive operations reaching well inside Russia.

Command of the force sits below the President rather than with him directly: under Ukraine's constitution, the President holds the office of Supreme Commander-in-Chief, a civilian constitutional role, while day-to-day operational command of the armed forces belongs to a serving general. Zelensky dismissed General Oleksandr Syrskyi from that operational post on 21 July 2026, after nearly a week of protests across eight cities, replacing him with General Mykhailo Drapatyi, a 43-year-old previously known for decentralised command of Ukraine's Joint Forces .

The force's drone campaign has reshaped the war's character. On the night of 2-3 May 2026 Ukraine launched 334 drones into Russia against Russia's 268, the first overnight exchange in which Ukraine outflew Russia in absolute volume . The reach of those strikes, extending to Moscow Oblast, is credited with forcing Russia's first hardware-free Victory Day parade in roughly twenty years .