Zelensky’s Wartime Reshuffle Sparks a Backlash
President Zelensky’s decision to overhaul his government in the middle of the war has drawn an unusually public backlash. The dismissal of the popular defence minister Mykhaylo Fedorov, architect of Ukraine’s drone programme, along with the departure of the prime minister, triggered protests in several cities and criticism from soldiers, veterans and lawmakers who fear the loss of momentum. The reshuffle came as Russia struck Kyiv, killing at least two, and as Ukrainian drones hit a Russian refinery at Syzran, deepening Moscow’s fuel troubles.
Removing a defence minister credited with building the drone force that has kept Ukraine in the fight, and doing so mid-war, is a gamble that has clearly unsettled the very people Ukraine most depends on — the soldiers and the volunteers who turned improvisation into a weapon. The rare street protests are a sign that Ukrainians, for all their unity against Russia, will not give the president a free hand over how the war is run. Zelensky’s calculation is presumably that fresh leadership can unlock new momentum, but the risk is disruption at exactly the wrong moment, as Russia intensifies its strikes on Ukrainian cities and Ukraine presses its own campaign against the refineries that fund Moscow’s war. The new European missile-defence coalition, and Britain’s promised jets, are meant to steady the balance, but they take time. Watch whether the protests grow, whether the new team holds, and whether the drone campaign keeps its edge.