Large protests broke out in several Ukrainian cities on Thursday against the removal of popular defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov. Local media reported protests in several other cities, including Lviv, Odesa, and Dnipro. The demonstrations come at a delicate moment as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is in Kyiv today for talks with Volodymyr Zelensky, having arrived just hours after a major Russian missile attack on the capital that killed two.
The Ukrainian parliament is set to vote today on a new war government today after yet another large cabinet reshuffle by the president.
Only appointed six months ago, Fedorov carved a reputation as a moderniser who tried to reform the Ukrainian military, worn down by more than four years of the Russian invasion.
Fedorov’s removal as defence minister risks throwing uncertainty into the army at a time when Ukraine is in one of its best positions in the war for months, having halted the pace of the Russian advance and pounding Russian oil and military sites with long-range drones.
Fedorov announced late on Wednesday, July 15th, that he was stepping down, saying it was a “great honour to serve the Ukrainian people,” amid a sweeping government reshuffle ordered by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
No official reason was given for the decision, which protestors saw as part of infighting inside Ukraine’s military establishment between Fedorov and commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky.
“I believe that his dismissal is a slap in the face of the Ukrainian people,” Vlada Roman, a 30-year-old business owner told AFP. She said she hoped Zelensky would row back on the decision, saying he was “afraid of effective people.”
Zelensky has not named a successor in a host of changes that have also seen the prime minister removed.
The deputy commander of Ukraine’s air force Pavlo Yelizarov also resigned in protest at Fedorov’s removal:
It is a great honor for me to work with Mykhailo Fedorov. In 2022, I joined the defence forces to win, not to pretend to be doing something.
