KYIV – The sacking of popular, reform-minded Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has sent shockwaves through Ukrainian politics and society, leading to impromptu protests in Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine on July 16.
On the evening of July 15, Fedorov announced on Facebook that it has been a “great honor” to serve as Ukraine’s defense minister. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has yet to comment, but the move comes after Fedorov spent just six months in office and clashed with commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi.
Fedorov, 35, who did not serve in the military and was previously Ukraine’s digital transformation minister, advocated wider adoption of drones and unmanned systems to overcome dire frontline labor shortages. Syrskyi, 60, a career Soviet military veteran and four-star general, had stressed the need to recruit more people to serve on the front lines.
Fedorov had also been the mastermind behind Ukraine’s campaign amid an offensive against Russia that hit Moscow’s supply lines, which he called a “logistical blockade.” With close ties to Silicon Valley executives — his youthful looks and casual attire made him easily mistaken for one — he worked with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to shut down Russian Starlink terminals.
He had also angered traditional defense contractors with moves to make defense procurement more open and transparent – notably by allowing soldiers to buy their weapons directly from the website Brave1called the “Amazon of Arms”.
The dismissal was met with shock and outrage throughout Ukrainian civil society. A July 15 social media post by Dmytro Koziatynskyi, a veteran and former combat medic, called for protests the next morning. In Kiev and other cities including Lviv, Dnipro and Odessa, protests began at 9:01 a.m. – a minute after the daily moment of silence for Ukrainians who have lost their lives in the Russian occupation.
After a ballistic missile attack killed two and wounded six in Kiev the night before, I headed to the protests outside the Ivan Franko Theater, not far from Zelenskyy’s office. There, the crowd chanted “Shame!” and “FE-DOR-OV!” and “No vested interests!”
The news had broken just over 12 hours ago, and yet there were at least 1,000 people there during the workday. There were neither speeches nor much organization behind the protests, but there was plenty of anger — and fear — about Fedorov’s dismissal.
I met Inna Sovsun, an opposition lawmaker from the Holos party, who said that while she sometimes disagreed with Fedorov’s decisions, his dismissal was “very wrong.” “At this point, there should at least be clear communication from the president about what the hell is going on,” she told me.
She noted that it was unusual for Ukrainians to protest the dismissal of a minister — there were no protests when Zelenskyy fired Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko on July 12, for example — but in this case “the personality and the issue” coincided.
The protesters tended to be younger Ukrainians in their 30s and 40s, and they were worried and outraged about what the dismissal would mean for the trajectory of the war, which Ukraine has recently gained momentum by hitting Russia’s energy infrastructure.
“We are fighting a stronger country and we have to fight with new technologies,” said Andrei Rusan, 42, who works in the IT sector. “When Fedorov came, we felt hope. After yesterday, I’m disappointed.”
Maria Vynogradova, 40, who also works in IT, told me she was partly there for the soldiers who couldn’t be there. “What are we doing? Why are we removing this person?” she said. “I want to have my own country; I don’t want to leave Kiev; I don’t want to leave Ukraine.”
Among protesters, the hope was that Zelenskyy would reverse course, as he did with a controversial anti-corruption law in July 2025 after mass protests in Kiev and other cities.
However, the political crisis only deepened after Ukrainian Air Force Deputy Commander Pavlo Yelizarov announced his resignation on July 16, citing Fedorov’s dismissal. saying that would cause more casualties and destruction from Russian missile and drone attacks. it wrote on Facebook that Fedorov’s dismissal was a “great disservice to the country’s defense capability.”
Update: Zelenskyy has announced an acting defense minister, Yevhen Khmara, whom he wants lawmakers to approve for the permanent role.
Berlin-based journalist and author Luke Johnson is publisher of Public Sphere the bulletin, from which this article reprinted with permission.
