{"id":129601,"date":"2026-07-18T10:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T05:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=129601"},"modified":"2026-07-18T10:12:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T05:12:15","slug":"thousands-of-ukrainians-protest-sacking-of-defence-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129601\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands of Ukrainians protest sacking of defence minister"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">KYIV(National Times)- Thousands of people turned out in Kyiv on Friday to protest Ukraine President Volody\u00admyr Zelensky\u2019s sacking of his popular defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov as part of a controversial reshuffle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The protesters, many of them carrying the Ukrainian flag and placards expressing support for Fedorov, gathered in the capital for the second day running to protest the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During his barely six months in office, Fedorov repeatedly clashed with the army\u2019s top commander in his efforts to digitise and modernise an army fatigued after four years&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2008508\">fighting off<\/a>&nbsp;the Russian invasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A day after being forced to resign on Wednesday, Fedorov accused Ukraine\u2019s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky of dividing the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He criticised slow bureaucracy and a lack of flexibility, questioning whether Ukraine could defeat Russia with Syrsky in charge of the army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zelensky himself lamented that the two sides were barely on speaking terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA president in wartime should not have to choose in such a situation, honestly,\u201d he said. \u201cI would very much like unity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Following Fedorov\u2019s removal, Zelensky anno\u00adunced he had appointed Yevgeniy Khmara \u2014 head of Uk\u00adraine\u2019s security service \u2014 as acting defence minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Around a thousand people protested Fedorov\u2019s removal in Kyiv and there were protests too in other cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During his tenure as defence minister, he boosted military salaries, announced plans for partial demobilisation and introduced game-like rewards systems for units that kill the most Russian soldiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Fedorov, who has never served in the army, clashed repeatedly with the military command\u2019s more traditional approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He won admirers among Ukraine\u2019s Western partners, many of whom, including Palantir CEO Alex Karp, have reached out following the dismissal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even before becoming defence chief, Fedorov spent much of the war promoting advanced technology, like drones, as a way to offset Ukraine\u2019s shortages in manpower, money and ammunition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A poll from the Kyiv Institute of Sociology said Fedorov ranked among the country\u2019s most trusted public figures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KYIV(National Times)- Thousands of people turned out in Kyiv on Friday to protest Ukraine President Volody\u00admyr Zelensky\u2019s sacking of his popular defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov as part of a controversial reshuffle. The protesters, many of them carrying the Ukrainian flag and placards expressing support for Fedorov, gathered in the capital for the second day running [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Thousands of Ukrainians protest sacking of defence minister - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129601\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thousands of Ukrainians protest sacking of defence minister - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"KYIV(National Times)- Thousands of people turned out in Kyiv on Friday to protest Ukraine President Volody\u00admyr Zelensky\u2019s sacking of his popular defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov as part of a controversial reshuffle. The protesters, many of them carrying the Ukrainian flag and placards expressing support for Fedorov, gathered in the capital for the second day running [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129601\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-18T05:12:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-18T05:12:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-9-25.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129601\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129601\/\",\"name\":\"Thousands of Ukrainians protest sacking of defence minister - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129601\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129601\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-9-25.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-18T05:12:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-18T05:12:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129601\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129601\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129601\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-9-25.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-9-25.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129601\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Thousands of Ukrainians protest sacking of defence minister\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Thousands of Ukrainians protest sacking of defence minister - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129601\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Thousands of Ukrainians protest sacking of defence minister - Nation","og_description":"KYIV(National Times)- Thousands of people turned out in Kyiv on Friday to protest Ukraine President Volody\u00admyr Zelensky\u2019s sacking of his popular defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov as part of a controversial reshuffle. 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