KYIV, Ukraine\u00a0\u2014\u00a0President Volodymyr Zelensky shook up his wartime government, drawing hundreds of Ukrainians into the streets Thursday to protest the ouster of his youthful defense minister \u2014 seen as an innovator of the country\u2019s successful drone technology but who clashed with the traditional military establishment.<\/p>\n
The personnel overhaul, which included replacing his prime minister, could become a test of Zelensky\u2019s political authority as Ukraine\u2019s fight against Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion approaches 4\u00bd years. Zelensky has remained in office under martial law because wartime elections are prohibited but has periodically reshuffled his government.<\/p>\n
The moves threw Ukraine\u2019s military leadership into an unwelcome crisis just as its actions against Russia were starting to bear fruit and came against a backdrop of Moscow\u2019s unrelenting aerial attacks. Two people were killed and five others were wounded, including a child, when Russian missiles hit the capital of Kyiv overnight, Ukraine\u2019s Emergency Service said.<\/p>\n
Zelensky cited friction between outgoing Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov and Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of Ukraine\u2019s armed forces.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just showing that if the sides can\u2019t resolve an issue, I will have to resolve it,\u201d Zelensky said at a news conference.<\/p>\n
The outgoing defense chief was seen as a modernizer<\/p>\n
Fedorov, 35, is considered to be a vigorous modernizer whose technological expertise is credited in part with significantly improving Ukraine\u2019s military performance in recent months against Russia\u2019s bigger army. He is leaving the government after only six months in the post.<\/p>\n
Fedorov appeared at a news conference in a dark T-shirt and jeans, and accused Syrskyi of blocking reforms needed because \u201cthe war has changed completely\u201d due to new technology like drones.<\/p>\n
During his time in office, he secured restrictions on Russian forces\u2019 access to the Starlink satellite communications system, allowing Ukraine to better leverage its midrange strike capabilities giving Kyiv significant battlefield advantages.<\/p>\n
Fedorov said he was willing to work with Syrskyi, \u201cbut we encountered a situation in which all the initiatives we proposed began to be blocked.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder this arrangement (with Syrskyi as commander), I personally do not know how the war can be won,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On social media, Fedorov highlighted what he called his major achievements: redirecting funds earmarked for salaries into midrange strike capabilities, fiber-optic drones, reconnaissance systems and other technologies. He pointed to expanded drone procurement, Patriot missile defense contracts, successful ballistic missile tests and sweeping changes to military procurement.<\/p>\n
But he acknowledged he was unable to complete the Defense Ministry\u2019s organizational transformation \u201caccording to NATO standards and common sense,\u201d and move all procurement to competitive tenders, and build a culture of accountability.<\/p>\n
Syrskyi didn\u2019t appear in public but in a Facebook post thanked Fedorov and said he hoped he would continue to serve Ukraine. \u201cI wish him to continue to remain in the Ukrainian team,\u201d Syrskyi said without elaborating.<\/p>\n
Zelensky said he was considering Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko as one of the candidates to succeed Fedorov. It\u2019s unclear when lawmakers will vote on the new defense minister.<\/p>\n
Zelensky described a difficult relationship between the Defense Ministry and the military at multiple levels, not simply a matter of personalities, and he said both sides share responsibility for the consequences.<\/p>\n
\u201cTogether we win, and together we\u2019re responsible for the things that cause confusion and public reaction,\u201d Zelensky said alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was making his final foreign visit before leaving office next week.<\/p>\n
Mostly young protesters support Fedorov<\/p>\n
Syrskyi, 60, initially organized the defense of Kyiv in February 2022, and seven months later masterminded a successful counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region. Born in 1965, he attended the Moscow Higher Military Command School before serving in the Soviet Artillery Corps before the USSR\u2019s collapse in 1991.<\/p>\n
The Ukrainian military has rallied under Fedorov, slowing Moscow\u2019s front-line advance to a virtual standstill and striking refineries and other energy infrastructure deep inside Russian territory, causing widespread fuel shortages, Western officials and analysts say. Zelensky\u2019s decision to fire him despite that track record has dismayed many people.<\/p>\n
Before becoming defense minister in January, Fedorov headed Ukraine\u2019s digital transformation policies. He won popularity by spearheading the rapid development and deployment of drone technology and introducing several successful e-government platforms.<\/p>\n
As minister, he moved to combat corruption, an issue that carries particular weight with Ukrainians who have repeatedly protested graft. Fighting corruption meant working against the interests of groups that had long profited from programs within the ministry, he said in interviews.<\/p>\n
He was seeking to overhaul weapons procurement to make it more transparent.<\/p>\n
He also promised sweeping military reforms, saying the military had faced about 200,000 desertions and draft-dodging by some 2 million people.<\/p>\n
The mostly young protesters who took to the streets of Kyiv and other cities to support Fedorov made crude remarks about the current military commander, chanting, \u201cSyrskyi go away!\u201d and \u201cA European army for a European country!\u201d<\/p>\n
Kyiv resident Bohdan Huryak said he was \u201cdeeply outraged\u201d by Fedorov\u2019s exit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not deeply invested in the internal political debates, but this is a person who shows results on the battlefield, we see results, we feel the fighting spirit and confidence in victory rising,\u201d Huryak told The Associated Press. \u201cAnd then, six months later, he is removed from office? Come on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russian military correspondents and pro-Kremlin bloggers relished the controversy. Pro-Kremlin political analyst Sergei Markov described Fedorov\u2019s comments as a \u201crebellion\u201d against Zelensky.<\/p>\n
The deputy commander of Ukraine\u2019s air force, Col. Pavlo Yelizarov, quit over Fedorov\u2019s dismissal. It will weaken Ukraine\u2019s air defenses and lead to more deaths from Russian missile and drone attacks, he said in his resignation letter posted on social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that the dismissal of Mykhailo Fedorov is a great evil for the country\u2019s defense capability,\u201d he wrote on Facebook.<\/p>\n
State energy company chief is new prime minister<\/p>\n
Parliament overwhelmingly approved Serhii Koretskyi, the head of state energy company Naftogaz, as the country\u2019s new prime minister. <\/p>\n
In nominating Koretskyi, Zelensky cited his record in the energy sector and argued he was best prepared to guide Ukraine through another winter, when Russian attacks on the power grid intensify.<\/p>\n
Zelensky swiftly reversed course in July last year when large street protests broke out over a new law that would have curbed the independence of the country\u2019s anti-corruption watchdogs. The outcry threatened the stability of his leadership for the first time since Russia\u2019s invasion.<\/p>\n
Kullab and Novikov write for the Associated Press. AP journalists Dan Bashakov and Dmytro Zhyhinas contributed to this report<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KYIV, Ukraine\u00a0\u2014\u00a0President Volodymyr Zelensky shook up his wartime government, drawing hundreds of Ukrainians into the streets Thursday to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":939082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,500,9958,39752,378142,378146,37593,2961,224,5337,378145,1812,3546,378144,163368,257,378143,273,217899],"class_list":["post-939081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-commander","tag-country","tag-defense-ministry","tag-fedorov","tag-full-scale-invasion","tag-kyiv","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-military-leadership","tag-office","tag-people","tag-popular-defense-minister","tag-recent-month","tag-russia","tag-syrskyi","tag-ukraine","tag-zelensky"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116930339875018971","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=939081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/939082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=939081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=939081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=939081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}