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Fedorov removed amid reshuffle
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed popular Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov as part of a wider cabinet reshuffle, triggering rare wartime protests across Ukraine. France 24 reported that the latest shake-up followed Zelensky’s decision to approve energy executive Sergiy Koretsky as prime minister, with Ukraine’s parliament voting Thursday to confirm Koretsky. Reuters and AFP coverage cited Fedorov’s resignation on Wednesday and his accusation that commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky was trying to divide the war-torn country. At a briefing in Kyiv, Fedorov said, "Instead of figuring out how to defeat Russia asymmetrically – which is the commander-in-chief's task – he figured out how to split the country we're all living in today," as protests gathered in central squares. NPR said Fedorov had served as defence minister for six months and was dismissed as Zelenskyy reshuffled the government, with Yevhen Khmara appointed as acting defence minister.
“The sacking of the popular Defense Minister by President Volodymyr Zelensky triggers a wave of anger across the country”
Protests and competing narratives
Protesters demanded that Zelensky reappoint Fedorov, and AFP reporting described more than a thousand people in Kyiv singing the Ukrainian national anthem, waving Ukrainian and EU flags, and chanting "shame" and "bring Fedorov back". Reuters quoted 29-year-old protester Valeriia Balenko saying, "I truly believe and hope that the authorities will, after all, listen to the people – that it will heed the people’s demands," linking the demand to soldiers’ lives and civilians living under air attacks. In Moscow, NPR reported the Kremlin played down the dismissal, with spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying, "It doesn't make any difference who the defense minister is." Al Jazeera reported that protests continued for a second day as Russian and Ukrainian air attacks killed 10 people on both sides of the border. The same Al Jazeera report said Russian drones struck port infrastructure in Mykolaiv, damaging three foreign-registered vessels, and that a Russian missile hit a residential building in Odesa, killing two people and wounding eight.
What’s at stake next
The reshuffle left Ukraine with an interim defence leadership while parliament confirmed new top roles, and France 24 said Zelensky named Yevhen Khmara, acting chief of the security service, as interim defence chief after Fedorov’s ouster. NPR reported that Zelenskyy appointed Khmara as acting defence minister and that Khmara had been involved in long-range strike campaigns hitting oil refineries and depots, while protests were expected to continue on Friday. Al Jazeera described the broader wartime context as Russian drones and missiles struck cities including Mykolaiv, Odesa, Marhanets, and Kherson, with a 70-year-old woman killed in Kherson and a bus attack in Marhanets killing one person and injuring eight others. In Kyiv, Fedorov’s supporters framed the dismissal as a blow to Ukraine’s ability to fight, with Reuters quoting Balenko’s appeal for the authorities to heed demands "for the sake of our soldiers’ lives". The Guardian said the timing of the dismissal highlighted wider issues for Zelenskyy because Fedorov was pushing a strategy to prosecute the war using Ukraine’s technological advances in drone and missile technology, and it quoted Fedorov saying, "All the initiatives we proposed began to be blocked," after his removal.
