Zelenskyy Fires Defense Minister Fedorov, Ukrainians Take to the Streets in Rare Wartime Protests

Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired his defense minister this week, and Ukrainians responded by doing something they've done only once before in more than four years of full-scale war: they took to the streets.

Thousands of protesters gathered Thursday, July 16 in central Kyiv, according to the Associated Press. Demonstrations also broke out in Odesa, Lviv and the frontline city of Kharkiv, where more than 300 people chanted "Shame, shame, shame!" on sidewalks, per AP reporting carried by PBS. The crowds grew through the morning.

Zelenskyy removed Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, a 35-year-old former tech entrepreneur who'd held the job for only six or seven months, depending on which start date is used. Fedorov had previously served as Ukraine's minister of digital transformation before Zelenskyy tapped him to overhaul a defense ministry that Fedorov himself described, according to Al Jazeera, as suffering from a "chaotic" management system, non-transparent arms distribution, constant rotation of commanding officers and "isolation" of reform-minded commanders.

What Fedorov Says He Did

Fedorov used his exit to list his accomplishments. According to CBS News and PBS, he pointed to redirecting funds earmarked for salaries into midrange strike capabilities, expanding drone procurement, securing Patriot missile defense contracts, running successful ballistic missile tests, and negotiating restrictions on Russian forces' access to Starlink satellite communications, which Ukraine has used to sharpen its strike capabilities.

He also credited himself, per CBS, with helping orchestrate Ukraine's campaign to choke off Russian fuel and logistics flows to Crimea, and with improving relations with the Trump administration, where he's described as a well-liked figure in Washington.

The Fight With Syrskyi

Zelenskyy said the firing came down to an unresolved conflict between Fedorov and Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine's armed forces. "I'm just showing that if the sides can't resolve an issue, I will have to resolve it," Zelenskyy told reporters, according to both PBS and CBS.

Fedorov, appearing at a news conference in a T-shirt and jeans, accused Syrskyi of blocking reforms because "the war has changed completely" with the rise of drone warfare. "Under this arrangement, I personally do not know how the war can be won," he said, according to PBS. He said he was willing to work with Syrskyi "but we encountered a situation in which all the initiatives we proposed began to be blocked."

Syrskyi, a 60-year-old four-star general credited with defending Kyiv in 2022 and pushing Russian forces out of northeastern Ukraine that same year, responded on social media with a call to "focus on war and on an effective strategy" against Russia, according to CBS. Al Jazeera notes Syrskyi has also faced criticism from some Ukrainian soldiers as a "butcher" over reported indifference to troop losses, an allegation that outlet attributes to unnamed critics rather than any formal finding.

The Backlash

The reaction went beyond street protests. Deputy Air Force Commander Pavlo Yelizarov submitted his own resignation Thursday, writing on Facebook, according to CBS, that "the removal of M. Fedorov is a great evil for the country's defense capability." The pro-government outlet United24 announced it was pausing publication to "take part in protests." A member of Zelenskyy's own party in parliament told CBS, "100% we will not accept" Fedorov's replacement.

That replacement is expected to be Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, according to ZeroHedge, citing Ukrainian and European reporting. War veteran and protest organizer Dmytro Koziatynskyi, who also helped lead demonstrations last year against Zelenskyy's move to weaken anti-corruption agencies, said on social media that Fedorov is "being removed in the middle of effective—finally effective!—reforms, replaced by someone under whom any hope of reform can be forgotten."

Al Jazeera's on-the-ground reporting captured the flavor of the protests directly. One demonstrator, identified only as Taisiya for security reasons, called Fedorov "outstanding" and said she'd like to see him as Ukraine's future president.

Why the Timing Matters

Multiple outlets flag the same uncomfortable fact: this shakeup landed just as Ukraine appears to be gaining ground. PBS and CBS both describe analysts as seeing Ukraine's drone campaign against Russian energy infrastructure as finally "bearing fruit," even as Russia has escalated missile strikes on Kyiv. Two people were killed and five wounded, including a child, in a Russian missile strike on the capital overnight Wednesday into Thursday, per Ukraine's Emergency Service as reported by PBS.

Zelenskyy has governed under martial law since Russia's 2022 invasion, with wartime elections legally barred. Street protests, rare as they've been, carry outsized political weight as one of the only outlets for public pressure on his government. A second demonstration of this scale across multiple Ukrainian cities during the war had only occurred once before, last year, when Zelenskyy moved to weaken anti-corruption agencies.

Whether Fedorov's ouster becomes a lasting political liability for Zelenskyy, or a footnote once Klymenko settles into the role, depends on questions nobody has answered yet: whether Fedorov's reforms survive the transition, whether Syrskyi's General Staff reasserts control over procurement and drone strategy, and whether the parliamentary revolt CBS reported inside Zelenskyy's own party turns into an actual legislative blockade of the new defense minister's confirmation.