Kyiv Protesters Slam Zelenskyy Over Sacking Of Defence Minister Amid Wartime Cabinet Reshuffle

Hundreds of protesters gathered near Kyiv's Ivan Franko National Theatre on Thursday, chanting "Shame" and carrying placards reading "The Russians are celebrating," after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy moved to dismiss Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov as part of his second cabinet reshuffle this year. Similar demonstrations broke out in Lviv, Dnipro and Odesa.

Fedorov, 35, a former digital transformation minister credited with disabling Starlink access for Russian forces and modernising battlefield technology, wrote on social media that serving as defence minister had been a great honour, while acknowledging he had failed to fully overhaul procurement and military recruitment to NATO standards. Reports suggest tensions with armed forces chief General Oleksandr Syrskyi contributed to his exit. Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko is widely expected to succeed him.

Parliament simultaneously confirmed Naftogaz chief Serhii Koretskyi as Ukraine's new prime minister, replacing Yulia Svyrydenko , in a 289 to 1 vote. Koretskyi, who previously led the WOG petrol station chain and state firms Ukrnafta and Ukrtatnafta, said his foremost task was to fully equip Ukraine's defence forces and expand its domestic defence industry ahead of another difficult winter of Russian strikes on energy infrastructure.

The unrest echoes protests from July last year, when Zelenskyy was forced to reverse a law curbing anti-corruption watchdogs after mass demonstrations at the same Kyiv landmark. The reshuffle comes as Russian missile strikes killed two people and wounded five, including a child, in Kyiv overnight, underscoring the pressure Zelenskyy faces balancing battlefield performance, domestic accountability and coalition politics as the war approaches its fifth year.