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Kyiv protests over Fedorov's dismissal reach ninth day
Summary
A look back at 24 July 2026, when demonstrators in the Ukrainian capital were still demanding the reinstatement of the defence minister.
What did the streets of Kyiv want on 24 July 2026? For the ninth consecutive day, thousands of people protested there, demanding that Mykhailo Fedorov be reinstated as Minister of Defence after his dismissal.
The pressure had already produced one major change in the military leadership. On 21 July 2026, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Oleksandr Syrskyi as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The president named Mykhailo Drapatyi, the Joint Forces commander, as his replacement. As reported at the time, the decision came amid protests over the removal of Fedorov, and one report framed the demonstrations as demanding Syrskyi's removal.
Why the date matters
By 24 July 2026, three days after Syrskyi's dismissal, the demonstrators had not gone home. Their central demand, as reported, remained the return of Fedorov to the defence ministry. The appointment of Drapatyi did not end the protests.
The sequence shows a political dispute spreading from one office to another. A ministerial dismissal prompted street protests. Those protests continued for more than a week. The president changed the head of the armed forces within that period, yet the original grievance stayed at the centre of the demonstrations.
Whether Fedorov would return to the ministry was unresolved on 24 July 2026. What was clear was that the dispute over Ukraine's defence leadership had moved well beyond a single personnel decision and into public view in the capital.
