Ukraine is putting pressure on Russia. So why is the country’s defence minister being ousted now?

Mykhailo Fedorov was Ukraine’s fourth defence minister to serve in the role since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country, but the first whose ouster has led to public backlash and triggered a political crisis.

After it was revealed on Wednesday that the popular and tech-savvy politician was being dismissed from his role, thousands of people across Ukraine began protesting. A pro-government media platform announced its staff were pausing work to take part in the rallies.

A deputy commander of Ukraine’s air force resigned in protest and online there was a surge of comments urging President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to change course.

“When it comes to this decision, I definitely don’t trust the government,” said Stefan Dymytrov, 25, who spoke Thursday to a freelance crew working for CBC News at a rally in Kyiv while waving a sign that called Fedorov’s dismissal a crime.

“Firing Fedorov is totally unnecessary, totally illogical and it goes against our goal.”

Fedorov, 35, is seen by supporters as a reformist who has tried to make Ukraine’s army more efficient by focusing on drone warfare and attempting to rein in overspending on the procurement of weapons and ammunition.

Dispute with military chief

His dismissal came after he clashed with Ukraine’s military chief, Col.-Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, 60.

In recent days, there had been reports of simmering tension between Fedorov and Syrskyi , who was appointed as commander of Ukraine’s military in 2024, but the rift was laid bare during Fedorov’s media conference on Thursday.

While Fedorov praised Syrskyi’s military accomplishments, he added that the nature of war has totally changed and went on to criticize him for overseeing a dysfunctional military culture.

“When [Zelenskyy] said he did not plan to replace Syrskyi, I … said I would learn to work with him,” Fedorov said during the news conference in Kyiv. But, he added, “all the initiatives we proposed were blocked.”

Afterward, Syrskyi issued a short statement on social media, thanking Fedorov for his work as defence minister, adding that Ukraine needs to focus on the war and on “an effective strategy that is currently demonstrating concrete results. “

Fedorov’s removal from his post was part of a wider cabinet shuffle that comes as Ukraine steps up pressure on Russia by launching mid- and long-range strikes against its energy infrastructure and transportation routes in and out of Crimea.

The repeated strikes have triggered gas shortages and left Moscow, one of the world’s largest energy producers, starting to import fuel.

Fedorov, who previously served as the country’s minister of digital transformation, appealed to Elon Musk to provide SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet stations to Ukraine in the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Ukraine’s military now uses tens of thousands of Starlink terminals to provide connectivity in areas near the front lines.

In February, Fedorov appealed to Musk again, asking him to block Russia’s unauthorized access to the technology, which had been found affixed to Russian drones in an effort to improve targeting accuracy.

Musk complied, with SpaceX switching off all terminals operating in Ukraine except those approved by Kyiv’s Defence Ministry.

During a media conference hosted alongside outgoing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Kyiv on Thursday, Zelenskyy acknowledged there was tension between the military leadership and the Defence Ministry, saying that as president he is not supposed to “pick sides in this kind of situation during wartime.”

No one has yet been appointed to the role of defence minister permanently, but late Thursday Zelensky said he was appointing Yevhenii Khmara, the acting head of Ukraine’s SBU domestic security service, as acting defence minister.

In a statement, Zelenskyy said he would ask parliament to approve Khmara permanently for the role.

Earlier in the day, Zelenskyy said he was confident Fedorov would remain on his team, even though the outgoing defence minister said he had declined an offer to serve as an adviser to the president.

‘High-risk’ political move

Mykola Davydiuk, a Ukrainian MP from the opposition party Holos, told CBC News he thinks Fedorov’s removal was the result of a clash between “post-Soviet generals” and younger people pushing for change.

“We need reforms, we want people to fight for a better state and good governance,” Davydiuk said in a phone interview from Kyiv. “I’m not sure that these political games have a place now in the time of war. So I think that is a problem.”

Natia Seskuria, a senior research fellow with the Royal United Services Institute, called Fedorov ’s dismissal a “high-risk” political decision, taken just as Ukraine’s battlefield position had begun to improve.

She added that his removal could be quite costly in “political and symbolic terms.”

While Ukraine has been launching more strikes against Russia, little has changed when it comes to the situation along the sprawling front line, where both countries remain locked in an attritional war.

Part of Fedorov’s role was to boost the depleted ranks of Ukraine’s military. In June, his ministry released a plan that included new contracts, higher salaries and a fresh drive to recruit foreign fighters, but he faced criticism from some military personnel for not rolling out the reforms fast enough.

“While personnel reshuffles are not new in Ukraine, replacing one of the most popular wartime figures without a convincing public explanation has already triggered rare protests,” Seskuria wrote in a statement to CBC News.

“Even if Kyiv moves quickly to install a successor, the episode will cast doubt on the durability of Ukraine’s defence-governance reform.”