A protest against the change of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine is taking place in Kyiv, with demands to keep Mykhailo Fedorov in his position.
About 1,000 participants had gathered on Ivan Franko Square near the Ivan Franko National Theater as of 9:30, and people are continuing to arrive, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
Participants held posters with inscriptions: "Bring back Fedorov," "Finally start serving the people," "Fedorov-MoD," "When will results be more important than ambitions," "What for?" "Hands off Fedorov," "The enemy rejoices, do you?", "Reforms must continue," and many others.
Protesters are chanting: "We do not care," "One united sovereign Ukraine," "Bring back Fedorov," "Shame," "Why do I need a system that works against me," "Ukraine is not Russia."
Authorities have not observed violations of public order or provocations.
The initiator of the protest, veteran Dmytro Kozyatynsky, who had previously announced it on social networks, wrote: "Friends, it is impossible to endure what is happening with our government anymore. They removed the Minister of Defense during effective (finally!) reforms, replacing him with a person under whom one can forget about any reforms. We will never defeat Russia as long as the same total mothballs and corruption reign in our army and our ministries."
Many politicians, veterans, public figures, and public persons had previously announced their participation in the protest.
Several dozen law enforcement officers, including the Dialogue Police of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kyiv, are monitoring the protest.
Social networks had previously reported that similar protests would take place in other cities: Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Odesa, Zaporizhia, Dnipro, Rivne, Ivano-Frankivsk, Cherkasy, Poltava, Khmelnytskyi, Lutsk, Chernivtsi, Ternopil, and Vinnytsia.
As previously reported, President of Ukraine Zelenskyy said he held a meeting on Wednesday, July 15, with army leadership and Minister of Defense of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov regarding priorities for future work. After this, Member of Parliament Yaroslav Zhelezniak (Holos faction) reported that at a meeting with MPs of the Servant of the People faction, the President stated he would submit the candidacy of former Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko for the position of Minister of Defense of the country, and that Fedorov "would be somewhere nearby."
Following this, Fedorov’s advisors Serhiy "Flash" Beskrestnov and Serhiy Sternenko announced the termination of their work in their positions. Also, Deputy Commander of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Pavlo Yelizarov submitted a report on his resignation in connection with this situation.
Mykhailo Fedorov himself wrote in a farewell post on social networks that he regretted that during his tenure he did not dismiss people who slowed down changes in the department more decisively.
