After nearly a week of the largest demonstrations Ukraine has seen since the war with Russia began in February 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to his people. On Tuesday, he dismissed Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi as commander in chief of the armed forces. Protest organizers had set a July 24 deadline for the president to remove Syrskyi and reinstate Mykhailo Fedorov as defense minister.
As I noted last week, this crisis represents a collision of different generations. Fedorov, the 35-year-old technocrat who built the country’s celebrated Diia digital state services, before taking on the defense portfolio, wanted to sweep aside the army’s old guard and promote a new generation of commanders fluent in new technologies. He collided head-on with Syrskyi, a 60-year-old student of Soviet military doctrine. Syrskyi is widely credited for his defense of Kyiv, the most critical battle of the war, which earned him the position of the chief of the General Staff.
The general’s record thereafter has been mixed. After the Battle of Bakhmut and later Avdiivka, troops nicknamed him “The Butcher.” Critics say he clung to rigid orders to hold untenable positions at high cost, bleeding an already overstretched army, and that his delayed withdrawal from Kursk left soldiers stranded. Some also accuse him of micromanagement and of fostering a Soviet-style command culture, with orders reaching down to company level and stifling battlefield initiative.
The feud between Fedorov and Syrskyi boiled over when Fedorov, in a press conference, accused Syrskyi of obstructing reform and alleging that the general engineered his removal through an ultimatum to Zelensky. Fedorov carries his own baggage. Some argue he pushed too far, too fast, and without regard for the legitimate viewpoints of others. Syrskyi attempted a late defense. He broke his silence in an op-ed by apologizing to Fedorov while insisting his fight was with Russia, not the Defense Ministry. But the piece read like a rebuttal. He noted that only about 2,000 servicemen had signed Fedorov’s new fixed-term contracts a month after their launch and warned that soldiers’ pay had been diverted to drone purchases.
Syrskyi’s replacement, 43-year-old Mykhailo Drapatyi, is respected within the ranks and popular with the public. Drapatyi’s appointment appears designed to answer protesters’ concerns. His reputation rests on stabilizing collapsing sectors of the front, and, in an unusual act of accountability, he resigned command of the Ground Forces after a Russian strike killed trainees under his authority. Drapatyi praised Fedorov’s six-month tenure as a genuine effort to change entrenched military rules and confront problems the system had ignored.
Initially, the president sided with his old guard general. But under pressure, he has changed his mind. Still, the question of Fedorov’s future remains open. He was reportedly offered a role overseeing military technology and modernization. It’s unclear whether he will accept this offer or insist he’ll return only as defense minister.
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Fedorov’s comeback also carries political risks for Zelensky. The firing inadvertently has turned a loyal minister into a potential independent political force, one who now owes his standing as much to the street as to the president. He may challenge Zelensky when elections are eventually held. When former Army commander Valeryi Zaluzhnyi was removed from the post, his popularity was widely seen as a factor and his job in London as an effort to sideline him. At the time, Ukrainians voiced displeasure but accepted it. This time around they seem to have had too much. The only comparable episode came last summer, when street pressure forced the government to retreat from curbing the anti-corruption agencies. Zelensky yielded to the demonstrators that time as well.
Whether the reversals reflect genuine responsiveness or tactical moves remains to be seen. What is already clear, however, is that Ukraine’s streets have demonstrated, for the second time in a year, that they can move their president.