📰 Curated from Associated Press
📖 Read full article→How protests over a popular minister’s firing sparked Ukraine’s sudden military reset - AP News
WorldBy Samya Kullab7/23/20261 min read
In just a week, the dismissal of a Ukrainian defense minister set in motion a transformation of the country’s armed forces that replaced the old guard with a new generation of leadership. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s decision to fire his popular …
✨ Key Highlights
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed his popular defense minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, triggering nearly a week of public protests and exposing a widening rift over the future direction of the country's military.
- Demonstrators rallied behind Fedorov, viewed as one of Ukraine's most influential wartime reformers, while denouncing commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi and demanding the minister's reinstatement.
- Fedorov's removal came after months of increasingly bitter disagreements between him and Syrskyi over military policy.
- To quell the turmoil, Zelenskyy carried out a top-level military reset late Tuesday, replacing the old guard with a younger generation of leadership, though it remained unclear whether the moves would end the unrest.
- The new army chief, Maj. Gen. Mykhailo Drapatyi, rose through the ranks fighting Russian aggression and became known for his daring during 2014, the year Russia seized and illegally annexed Crimea, eight years before Moscow's full-scale invasion.
- The episode marked the second time in a year that a wartime decision by Zelenskyy sparked public backlash, following his mid-2025 move to curb the powers of anti-corruption bodies.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) In the span of a single week, the dismissal of a Ukrainian defense minister set in motion a transformation of the countrys armed forces that replaced the old guard with a new gener