President Volodymyr Zelenskiy moved to extinguish a political crisis yesterday sparked by his dismissal of a reformist defence minister, tapping a security official who has overseen Ukraine’s long-range strikes against Russia for the post.
Rare protests had erupted in Ukraine over the ouster of Mykhailo Fedorov in a surprise government reshuffle.
The dismissal brought into the open a dispute between the young tech evangelist and Kyiv’s top general during the president’s second shake-up in a year.
Hundreds of people took to the streets in the capital Kyiv and other cities to demand Fedorov – who has aimed to reshape Kyiv’s outmanned army into a more efficient fighting force against Russia – be reappointed. A senior commander of Kyiv’s air war had also resigned.
In a statement, Zelenskiy said he was appointing Yevhenii Khmara, acting head of Ukraine’s SBU domestic security service, as acting defence minister and would ask parliament to approve him permanently for the post.
“Yevhenii Khmara has gained extensive and, in many respects, unprecedented experience with technological combat operations,” he wrote on X.
“This is exactly where our defence efforts should be focused during this war.”
Ukraine’s long-range strikes on Russia’s oil infrastructure and defence industry have helped weaken Moscow’s war machine in recent months, boosting Ukrainian morale at a critical moment in the more than four-year war.
The SBU’s Alpha team, which Khmara had previously led, has played a leading role in those attacks and other major operations.
It was not immediately clear when parliament - which had greenlit a new government under energy executive Sergii Koretskyi earlier yesterday – would consider Khmara’s appointment.
The next session is scheduled for August 18.
Speaking to reporters in Kyiv, the 35-year-old Fedorov said yesterday he had declined an offer from Zelenskiy to serve as an adviser after the president refused to include him in the next government.
In a scathing attack on military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, Fedorov accused the general of blocking ministry initiatives and failing to address problems directly.
“Instead of working out how to defeat Russia ... he has figured out how to split the country,” he said, dressed in his trademark casual T-shirt and jeans.
Syrskyi, 60, has been in his post since early 2024 but has faced criticism for a rigid command style which some service members have said results in high troop losses.
In a statement, Syrskyi called for focusing on Ukraine’s war effort and recalled his role in helping defend Kyiv from Russian forces in the first weeks of their 2022 invasion.
“And now in this city, briefings can be held, visions can be developed, and decisions can be made,” he said, appearing to mock Fedorov’s press conference hours earlier.
Earlier yesterday, Zelenskiy said he was still considering who would replace Fedorov, adding that outgoing Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko was only one of the candidates under discussion and that he would look into the matter again.
“I would very much like unity,” he told reporters in Kyiv, appearing flustered. “The sides did not find it.”
Ukraine is in its best battlefield position since late 2022, gaining new battlefield momentum while striking Russia’s oil sector and military logistics in drone and missile attacks.
Despite those gains, Kyiv’s forces still face grinding Russian advances in the east amid a critical shortage of ground troops, as well as a lack of air defences as Moscow steps up strikes with ballistic missiles.
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