Kyiv<\/a> to protest against the dismissal of Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, as parliament approved a new prime minister amid a controversial cabinet reshuffle.<\/p>\nAccording to local media reports, protests also took place in several other cities on Thursday, including Lviv, Odesa and Dnipro, while in Kyiv, protesters chanted \u201cShame!\u201d and carried placards reading \u201cThe Russians are celebrating\u201d.<\/p>\n
Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n
The theatre is close to the presidential office, the site of last July\u2019s so-called \u201ccardboard protest\u201d, when public pressure prompted Zelenskyy to reverse a widely criticised measure that stripped Ukraine\u2019s anticorruption agencies of their independence.<\/p>\n
Writing on X, Fedorov said it had been \u201ca great honour to serve the Ukrainian people\u201d as the minister of defence, before outlining what he described as the ministry\u2019s key achievements during his tenure, including disabling \u201cStarlink access for Russian forces\u201d and launching programmes to expand Ukraine\u2019s domestic drone production amid the ongoing war with Moscow.<\/p>\n
The 35-year-old technology specialist, who previously served as Ukraine\u2019s first minister for digital transformation, has been credited with streamlining bureaucracy and introducing a more data-driven approach to the war against Russia.<\/p>\n
Supporters say his efforts to reform defence procurement and tackle corruption won him enemies within parts of the political and military establishment. However, critics say he failed to deliver quickly enough on promises to overhaul military recruitment.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said he wanted the Ministry of Defence and military leadership to work with greater unity, appearing to acknowledge reports of tensions between Fedorov and other officials.<\/p>\n
The demonstrations came as Ukraine\u2019s parliament approved a new wartime government on Thursday following Fedorov\u2019s departure as defence minister.<\/p>\n
The move forms part of Zelenskyy\u2019s second cabinet reshuffle in a year. Lawmakers confirmed Naftogaz chief Sergiy Koretsky as Ukraine\u2019s new prime minister, replacing Yulia Svyrydenko, while Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko is widely expected to take over as defence minister.<\/p>\n
Koretsky headed Naftogaz, Ukraine\u2019s state-owned energy company, through last winter, when repeated Russian drone and missile attacks on energy infrastructure triggered widespread power cuts and heating outages during freezing temperatures.<\/p>\n
Before joining Naftogaz, Koretsky built his career in Ukraine\u2019s private fuel industry, leading the WOG petrol station network and founding the Idealist Coffee Co chain. He headed the state-owned energy firms Ukrnafta and Ukrtatnafta between 2022 and 2025 before taking charge of Naftogaz.<\/p>\n
Writing on X after his appointment, Koretsky said his \u201cforemost task is to fully equip\u201d Ukraine\u2019s defence forces and \u201caccelerate the expansion\u201d of its defence industrial base.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will continue to give special attention to frontline communities that endure Russian attacks every day,\u201d he said, adding that Ukraine\u2019s strategic goal of European Union membership \u201cremains unchanged\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mykhailo Fedorov has been credited with reforming defence procurement and tackling corruption. Published On 16 Jul 202616 Jul…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[591,498,8,391,9,67,3377,349,7,536],"class_list":["post-53202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-stories","tag-europe","tag-government","tag-headlines","tag-military","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-protests","tag-russia-ukraine-war","tag-top-stories","tag-ukraine"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/116930193871123959","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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