President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's dismissal of Mykhailo Fedorov as defense minister has drawn a wave of criticism from soldiers, veterans, and civil society figures, who argue Ukraine is losing one of its most effective wartime officials without an adequate explanation, The Kyiv Independent reports.
Dmytro Koziatynskyi, a war veteran who was a leading organizer of last summer's mass protests against a law curbing the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies, called for a new demonstration.
"The defense minister is being removed in the middle of effective — finally effective! — reforms, replaced by someone under whom any hope of reform can be forgotten," he wrote on Facebook.
He urged Ukrainians to gather at Ivan Franka Square at 9:01 a.m. — after Ukraine's daily minute of silence to honor fallen soldiers and civilians killed in the war — to protest what he called a pattern of "replacing effective ministers with convenient yes-men," adding: "We will never defeat Russia as long as the same total stagnation and corruption rule our army and our ministries."
Pavlo Kazarin, a sergeant with the 104th Territorial Defense Brigade, called the decision "utterly baffling," noting that every change in the ministry's leadership has brought policymaking to a standstill for weeks or longer. Fedorov is the third person to hold the post in the past year.
"If there had been complaints about Fedorov's work and the ministry's effectiveness during his tenure, this reshuffle would have been understandable," Kazarin told the Kyiv Independent. "But there weren't any."
He credited Fedorov's tenure with cutting off Russian forces' access to Starlink and warned that his removal would be seen as proof that "conservatism" and "the absence of reforms" are the surest way for officials to stay in power.
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