Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky may have earned himself another powerful political rival when he fired Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov during a chaotic government reshuffle, multiple Ukrainian MPs have told The Times.
Zelensky framed the dismissal as an attempt to resolve an irreconcilable conflict between the popular young technocrat and Ukraine’s Soviet-trained top general, Aleksandr Syrsky, who is reportedly unpopular with the troops.
The sacking of Fedorov on July 16 sparked protests in Kiev and other cities, with demonstrators demanding that Zelensky reinstate the defense minister and fire Syrsky instead. In a Telegram post on Tuesday, the Ukrainian leader announced that he had also dismissed Syrsky.
“This scandal has considerably raised Fedorov’s political profile among the people. Now the sharks are circling in the waters waiting for the time that we can have elections again,” an unnamed Ukrainian MP told The Times.
Fedorov has already been urged to start his own political party, with several MPs backing the idea, The Times reported on Saturday.
A Kiev Institute of Sociology poll published last month put Fedorov 2 percentage points ahead of Zelensky in net approval, largely because 34% of respondents said they distrusted the Ukrainian leader. The survey also showed that both men trailed Ukraine’s former commander-in-chief, Valery Zaluzhny, whom Zelensky dismissed in 2024 after Kiev’s failed counteroffensive the previous year.
One Ukrainian MP drew a parallel between Zaluzhny’s dismissal and the current scandal, according to The Times.
“He did the same thing with Zaluzhny and now Zaluzhny is seen as the main person who could defeat Mr Zelensky in an election,” the newspaper cited an MP in the Ukrainian leader’s Servant of the People party as saying.
Zelensky, whose five-year presidential term expired in May 2024, has refused to call new elections, citing the conflict with Russia and martial law. However, an Ipsos poll published earlier this year found that Zaluzhny would beat Zelensky 23% to 20% in a hypothetical first-round presidential contest.
No comparable polling has been conducted on Fedorov’s electoral prospects, but the nationwide protests following his dismissal underscored his popularity.
The street protests echoed those that swept Ukraine last summer after Zelensky’s failed attempt to curb the powers of the Western-backed National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), shortly before the agencies exposed a major graft scandal involving his close associates.
The Ukrainian leader was forced to abandon the reform after protests, widespread media criticism and open pressure from Western officials.
According to bne IntelliNews editor-in-chief Ben Aris, Fedorov’s dismissal also prompted behind-the-scenes pressure from Ukraine’s EU backers, who saw him as a leading anti-corruption figure in Kiev.
“Corruption… is a bit of a thing these days after every single one of Zelensky’s closest friends in the Cabinet was caught with their hand in the till,” Aris wrote on Substack on Tuesday.
There is “rapidly fading enthusiasm for supporting Ukraine” among EU leaders, Aris argued, adding that more governments could come to power this year seeking to reduce ties with Kiev. “Ukraine fatigue” is once again on the rise, he wrote.
Greece, one of the countries currently blocking new EU sanctions on Russia, has also reportedly refused to hand over its stockpile of 200 PAC-2 Patriot missiles to Kiev despite pressure from Brussels.
The UK, France and Germany – some of Kiev’s largest European backers – are either undergoing political turbulence or soon will, Aris argued. The UK is “in the same sort of political chaos as Ukraine,” French President Emmanuel Macron is due to step down next year, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is expected to see his authority weakened by a series of regional election losses to the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) this fall, he wrote.
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