Who will succeed Zelenskiy? Ukraine’s war veterans prepare for political life

After nearly five years of full-scale war with Russia, some of the most recognisable faces in Ukraine belong to its military commanders.

They are familiar from recruiting posters plastered on billboards across the land, news reports on the battlefield situation and, for the slightly less senior among them, appeals for donations to help their units buy vehicles, drones and other gear.

Surveys show that public trust in the armed forces went from solid to stratospheric at the start of Russia’s all-out invasion in February 2022, and they remain clearly the most popular institution in Ukraine – with only top current or former military men being able to consistently match the ratings of president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Combine nationwide respect and gratitude for wartime service with a large and growing natural constituency – Ukraine has about one million people in its military, and its community of veterans and their families could number six million in the coming years – and the future political potential of high-profile soldiers becomes clear.

“I think it’s inevitable that veterans will become part of future political elites,” says Dmytro Finashyn, a former drone pilot and sniper with the Ukrainian national guard who is now an adviser on veterans’ affairs to the country’s interior minister.

“Some will be good people. Some won’t,” he warns. “Simply having served in the military doesn’t make you a good person. There are lots of totally different ways to serve and fight ... Voters will have to think critically, and look at how a person has lived their life.”

Elections are banned during wartime under Ukraine’s martial law, but pollsters frequently gauge public opinion.

The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found in June that Gen Valery Zaluzhnyi, who led Ukraine’s forces at the start of the full-scale war, was the nation’s most trusted figure.

He polled higher than Zelenskiy, who replaced him as commander-in-chief and dispatched him to London as ambassador in February 2024, reportedly amid tension over the general’s popularity and possible ambitions in politics.

Lieut Gen Kyrylo Budanov also ranked highly, even after Zelenskiy plucked him from the top chair at Ukraine’s military intelligence service and made him his chief of staff, in what some analysts saw as a bid to neutralise another potential rival.

Other military figures to poll strongly included Maj Robert Brovdi, the commander of Ukraine’s innovative drone forces, and Brig Gen Andriy Biletskyi, who leads the so-called Centre grouping of forces on the eastern front.

[ US seeks ‘final end’ to conflict as Russia-Ukraine peace talks get under wayOpens in new window ]

Biletskyi was elected to parliament in 2014 and lost his seat five years later, but none of the other military figures in the survey have revealed political aspirations.

Finashyn’s survival story would be a campaign manager’s dream.

In May 2022, he and two national guard comrades were ambushed by a Russian unit near Soledar in eastern Ukraine.

One was killed and another injured, and Finashyn tried to drag the casualty to cover through a field of knee-high wheat.

“The enemy machine-gunner knew we were somewhere in the field and just kept spraying it with bullets,” he says.

One hit Finashyn’s right hand, all but severing his index finger. Another pierced his helmet, but left only a scratch on his head. Then a third bullet tore into his left shoulder, shattering the bones and lodging in his chest.

His wounded comrade crawled away to get help. He survived but could not find his way back to Finashyn, who was presumed dead.

He spent two days in woods and fields near enemy positions, barely able to use either arm and repeatedly passing out from severe blood loss: “The hallucinations were one of the worst things I experienced. And the cold.”

Another Ukrainian unit stumbled upon Finashyn and got him to hospital, where his left arm and damaged finger were amputated. He discharged himself 28 days later. In October 2022, Zelenskiy awarded him the title of Hero of Ukraine, the country’s highest honour.

Ukraine now has more than two million military veterans, and an estimated 100,000 wartime amputees.

Finashyn (32) lists the problems they can face, whether because of physical injuries, bureaucracy or the search for purpose in a civilian life that can feel mundane.

He was among 15 current and former soldiers who formed the first cohort of a Ukrainian Veterans Leadership Programme at Yale University this spring.

“I don’t see myself as a member of parliament,” Finashyn says of his future. “But I think I’ll keep working in the service of the state, somewhere in a government organisation.”

The weeklong course at Yale, which was created by the eponymous foundation of Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk, was not Yulian Pylypei’s first time in the US.

Seven years ago, he graduated from the US marine officer training course in Quantico, Virginia, which helped him command a company of Ukrainian marines stationed north of Mariupol when Russia’s full invasion began.

“I took something from the US system, something from our system, and created a mixed standard to prepare my marines,” says Pylypei (31).

“Everyone knew what to do and no one complained ... even when we had hardly any supplies or ammunition left and we shared everything out. My company was like one body made from many small parts. I’m really proud of that.”

As Moscow’s troops tightened their grip on Mariupol, Pylypei’s unit was surrounded and tried to break through enemy lines. They were ambushed by Russian special forces in April 2022, and Pylypei began what would be two-and-a-half years in captivity.

He was moved between jails in occupied territory and Russia, and subjected to severe beatings, electric shocks and psychological torture. He saw other Ukrainian soldiers die from the mistreatment, before he was eventually sent home in a prisoner exchange in September 2024.

Pylypei left the army this year and is learning Arabic in the hope of becoming an ambassador.

“I want to work in global affairs for Ukraine ... and of course in some way it will be connected to the military. That’s my background, I gave 13 years of my life to that. So it will be diplomacy and military co-operation,” he says.

“I’ll be advocating for Ukraine and especially for Ukrainian prisoners of war. While your comrades are still in prison you can’t feel okay, knowing exactly what they are going through. I’ll be fighting for them until they are all back home.”

Hlib Stryzhko served in another unit of the same battalion as Pylypei – the 1st Separate Marines – and was also defending Mariupol when an air strike nearly killed him. With a broken pelvis and other serious injuries, the Russians handed him over in a prisoner swap 17 days later, and he began his long recovery in his homeland.

He is now a prominent advocate for fellow veterans, and advised former prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko on veterans’ issues until she was replaced in July.

“It’s where I see my future,” says Stryzhko (30), who is director of veterans’ affairs at a large Kyiv media firm.

“It could be in business or in politics, but it’s this topic that’s important – I want to dedicate myself to that.”

When Russia finally ends its invasion and Ukraine can choose new leaders, the experience and outlook of some veterans might be invaluable: they have seen the worst, survived, and committed themselves to rebuilding a better Ukraine.

“As a marine, I got used to putting up with difficulties, because they are temporary. At one time I was trapped in besieged Mariupol, but that passed. Then I was physically destroyed and in captivity, but that also passed,” says Stryzhko.

“As my grandmother used to say – things have never been so bad that they didn’t produce some good.”

[ Can Trump broker peace in Ukraine? The key questions ahead of Abu Dhabi talksOpens in new window ]