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Why Kyiv protesters gathered over the defence ministry
Summary
A look back at the second day of demonstrations in Kyiv after the dismissal of Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.
What drove people onto the streets of Kyiv on 17 July 2026? The demonstrations near the Presidential Office Building, which continued for a second day, followed the dismissal of Mykhailo Fedorov as Minister of Defence.
According to reports from the time, President Zelensky dismissed Fedorov on 15 July 2026, and the decision provoked protests across Ukraine. By 17 July, the gathering in the capital had a two-part set of demands.
What the protesters wanted
The first demand was the return of Fedorov to the post of Minister of Defence. The second was the resignation of Oleksandr Syrskyi as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The pairing is notable. The protesters tied the fate of a dismissed civilian minister to the leadership of the military command, making the demonstrations a statement about how the defence establishment was run, not only about a single personnel decision.
The location mattered as well: the Presidential Office Building is the seat of the authority that made the dismissal. That the protests lasted into a second day showed the reaction was not a one-off gathering.
