Protests Erupt Across Ukraine Against Removal of Defense Minister

In Kyiv, more than a thousand people gathered on a central square, singing the Ukrainian national anthem, waving Ukrainian and EU flags and chanting “shame” and “bring Fedorov back”.

Only appointed six months ago, Fedorov carved a reputation as a modernizer who tried to reform the Ukrainian military, worn down by more than four years of the Russian invasion.

His removal risks throwing uncertainty into the army at a time when Ukraine 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 Wednesday he was stepping down, saying it was a “great honor to serve the Ukrainian people”, amid a sweeping government reshuffle ordered by President Volodymyr Zelensky. Local media reported protests in several other cities, including Lviv, Odesa and Dnipro.

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.

On the ground, Russian strikes killed two people and wounded at least five others, including a child, in Kyiv, Ukrainian emergency services said, after explosions rocked the capital shortly after midnight. The attack is the latest in Russia’s near-daily bombardment of Ukrainian cities, as Moscow presses its invasion, which is now in its fifth year.

The attack came a few hours after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited to boost defense ties.

Mayor Klitschko wrote on social media earlier that a warehouse was hit while “missile debris fell on non-residential buildings”.

At the same time, Kharkiv, the main city in northeast Ukraine, was hit by combat drones, its mayor said.

Later in the day, Zelensky called for “unity” within Kyiv’s army leadership as he faced criticism for removing the country’s popular defense minister, who clashed with the army’s commander-in-chief.

“A president in wartime should not have to choose in such a situation, honestly,” Zelensky said, speaking of a conflict between ousted defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov and army commander Oleksandr Syrsky, adding, “I would very much like unity.” (AFP)