President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has defended his decision to dismiss Ukraine’s popular defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, and said relations had broken down between the ministry and senior military leadership. Zelenskyy, speaking in Kyiv with British prime minister Keir Starmer, confirmed that his administration had faced a difficult exchange between Fedorov and the commander in chief, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi. He said he wanted unity but that it had not been reached, adding that the problem also lay with him. “[I] would very much like to see unity. The sides have not found it. And the problem lies not only with the sides, but with me as well,” Zelenskyy said. “But things are as they are. And in such a situation, you have a choice: either one side or the other.” Acting defence minister appointment Zelenskyy said he had appointed Yevhenii Khmara, the acting head of Ukraine’s security service, as acting defence minister. He also asked parliament to approve him for the role. The president said the dialogue between Fedorov, described as a reformist and moderniser, and Syrskyi had been challenging. He added that he had made his choice following the breakdown. Civil society groups and foreign partners reacted strongly to the move, with some seeing it as backing Syrskyi over Fedorov. Protests in KyivMore than 1,000 protesters gathered outside the presidential office on Thursday, calling for Fedorov to stay and chanting against Syrskyi. Demonstrators carried placards supporting Fedorov, including messages reading “For what?” and “Is your head screwed on?” Chants of “Syrskyi out” echoed near central Kyiv, according to the report. It was only the second time since Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion in 2022 that large numbers of people have taken to the streets in anti-government protests. A similar backlash followed Zelenskyy’s earlier decision, later reversed, to close two anti-corruption agencies. The domestic dispute unfolded as Starmer ended his farewell visit to Kyiv before leaving Downing Street on Monday. The two leaders laid wreaths at the Wall of Remembrance and then held one-on-one talks in the garden of the presidential palace. Picture courtesy of The Guardian Starmer visit and UK backingAt a joint press conference, Zelenskyy awarded Starmer the Order of Freedom, Ukraine’s highest foreign honour. Starmer, appearing emotional, presented Zelenskyy with a framed Ukrainian flag that had hung above Downing Street in February 2022 as Russian tanks advanced towards Kyiv. Starmer said he would soon step away from the political stage but that British support for Ukraine would not change. “It is in our bones,” he said, adding that flags are displayed across the UK in churches and town halls. He also said Ukrainian drone strikes on long-range targets inside Russia had shifted the war’s momentum. Putin was “losing”, Starmer said, pointing to a more optimistic mood in Ukraine over the past six or seven months and attributing it to “hard work, guts, resolve and courage”. Asked about whether frequent turnover of British prime ministers affected Ukraine, Zelenskyy said relations with the UK would remain strong. He added that he hoped to meet Starmer’s successor “as soon as possible”. Zelenskyy and Starmer embraced warmly after their meetings and walked back into the palace for an official lunch. Fedorov criticises military brassFedorov held his own press conference, accusing Ukraine’s top brass of obstructing reforms and using methods he described as Soviet-style. He said decisions on which military brigades to support, including with drones, were made based on “loyalty” rather than data. “It’s impossible to develop the system on this basis,” he said, adding that Ukraine’s general staff opposed his plans to create centres of excellence and to change the army’s organisational structure. He said the general staff instead blocked initiatives and engaged in “bureaucratic wrangling”, and he claimed that he had proposed replacing Syrskyi, a move that appears to have contributed to his dismissal on Wednesday. Fedorov also said Zelenskyy had offered him a role as a government adviser, but that he turned it down. In his remarks, Fedorov paid tribute to Syrskyi for thwarting Russia’s plans to seize Kyiv, but said the commander in chief refused to discuss disagreements openly. He said Syrskyi “weaved intrigues” that “divide the country”. Reshuffle and battlefield progressFedorov’s comments suggested the political dispute over Zelenskyy’s reshuffle was likely to widen. On Wednesday, Ukraine’s parliament accepted the resignation of prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko after Zelenskyy said his government needed a reboot. Her replacement is expected to be Serhiy Koretskyi, head of energy company Naftogaz. During Fedorov’s six months in office, Ukraine’s battlefield position improved, with Kyiv repeatedly striking Russian oil refineries, which it said embarrassed the Kremlin and contributed to nationwide fuel shortages. Ukraine also destroyed key land and sea routes, targeting tankers and ferries as part of efforts to isolate occupied Crimea. Demonstrators who had gathered outside Kyiv’s Ivan Franko theatre speculated that the 35-year-old minister was removed because he was seen as a potential presidential rival. In 2024, Zelenskyy dismissed Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi and sent him to London as ambassador. One protester, Andrii Dligach, said Fedorov represented a new type of politics focused on openness, transparency and modernisation. He said: “Syrskyi is an old-fashioned general. Some of the people around him are allegedly corrupt and have their own drone projects. The problem is that Zelenskyy opposes anybody who shows political ambition.” Dligach added that he believed only a small number of people influenced the president’s thinking and that most were against Fedorov, preferring “an old-fashioned management style, similar to the one in Russia, with a tsar”. Join the discussion? 17 July 2026
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