Zelenskyy Appoints New Acting Defence Minister As Protests Erupt Over Predecessor's Sacking

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has named Maj-Gen Yevhenii Khmara as Ukraine’s acting defence minister after sacking popular predecessor Mykhailo Fedorov, triggering mass protests in Kyiv and other cities along with unusual dissent from within his own party.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has named a replacement for the defence minister he sacked this week, even as protesters filled squares across the country demanding the decision be reversed. By Thursday evening, Zelenskyy had settled on Maj-Gen Yevhenii Khmara, the acting head of Ukraine’s Security Service, to take over as acting defence minister, according to the BBC.

Announcing the pick, Zelenskyy praised Khmara’s background in modern warfare, saying he had built up rare expertise in technological combat operations. The president said Khmara would be tasked with continuing reforms at the ministry and delivering results Ukraine has already been working toward. Once the legal steps are finalised, Zelenskyy said he would formally ask parliament to confirm Khmara in the role permanently.

Zelenskyy told lawmakers from his own party that the real problem was a breakdown between Fedorov and Ukraine’s top general, Oleksandr Syrsky. The two, he said, simply could not find a way to work together despite the stakes.

But that is not the only explanation circulating in Kyiv. Defence industry figures, government officials and members of Zelenskyy’s own party have said, some openly, that Fedorov had become an obstacle for people looking to profit from Ukraine’s enormous wartime defence spending, the FT reported.

The demonstrations grew as the day went on. The protesters massed outside the president’s office itself, carrying signs calling for Fedorov to stay and chanting his name alongside slogans including “We’re not suckers!”

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That kind of open resistance from his own faction is unusual. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022, Zelenskyy’s party has mostly stood behind his wartime decisions and approved his cabinet choices without much pushback. This week’s reaction marks one of the clearest breaks from that pattern so far.

That episode ended with much of the political fallout landing on Andriy Yermak, then Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, who resigned in November. This time, the anger is aimed more directly at Zelenskyy himself, with protesters returning to the very same square outside his office where they had pushed him to reverse course a year earlier.