Hundreds protest in Kyiv over Zelenskyy’s dismissal of defence minister

Mykhailo Fedorov has been credited with reforming defence procurement and tackling corruption.Hundreds of people have gathered near the Ivan Franko National Theatre in central Kyiv to protest against the dismissal of Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, as parliament elects a new prime minister amid a controversial cabinet reshuffle.According to local media reports, protests also took place in several other cities on Thursday, including Lviv, Odesa and Dnipro, while in Kyiv, protesters chanted “Shame!” and carried placards reading “The Russians are celebrating”.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4US strikes Iran, tanker, as Tehran hits Kuwait, Jordan: What’s the latestlist 2 of 4US releases video of strikes on Iranlist 3 of 4Vance says Epstein had connections to US, Israeli intelligencelist 4 of 4Why Italy’s Genoa bridge collapse led to one of its biggest criminal trialsend of listThe theatre is close to the presidential office, the site of last July’s so-called “cardboard protest”, when public pressure prompted Zelenskyy to reverse a widely criticised measure that stripped Ukraine’s anticorruption agencies of their independence.Writing on X, Fedorov said it had been “a great honour to serve the Ukrainian people” as the minister of defence, before outlining what he described as the ministry’s key achievements during his tenure, including disabling “Starlink access for Russian forces” and launching programmes to expand Ukraine’s domestic drone production amid the ongoing Moscow" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="166166" data-entity-type="event">war with Moscow.The 35-year-old technology specialist, who previously served as Ukraine’s first minister for digital transformation, has been credited with streamlining bureaucracy and introducing a more data-driven approach to the war against Russia.Supporters say his efforts to reform defence procurement and tackle corruption won him enemies within parts of the political and military establishment. However, critics say he failed to deliver quickly enough on promises to overhaul military recruitment.