Ukraine is ousting its pro-tech defense minister after just 6 months. Troops fear it’s a monumental victory for Russia.

• Ukraine’s millennium defense minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, was dismissed after only 6 months in office.

• His dismissal shocked the country, which saw him as an opponent of military corruption and bureaucracy.

• Fedorov sought to radically transform the Ukrainian army into a modern, high-tech fighting force.

Mykhailo FedorovThe 35-year-old reformer, who initiated sweeping changes in the Ukrainian military this year, was dismissed as the country’s defense minister.

“It was a great honor to serve the Ukrainian people as Minister of Defense,” he wrote in a statement announcing his resignation Wednesday. Fedorov was appointed to this position in January.

The announcement came amid reports of serious rift between him and Kiev’s top military officials, including the commander-in-chief. General Oleksandr SyrskyiUncomfortable with Fedorov’s maverick approach to overhauling force and supply structures.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy This week he made a change in the government and Fedorov’s name was not included in the new squad. The president did not officially announce the minister’s dismissal; but Fedorov said at a press conference in Kiev on Thursday that he had been dismissed. He is expected to be replaced by Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko.

“I had a cordial conversation with the president yesterday,” Fedorov told reporters. “He offered me the role of advisor or finding another way for me to stay in the team. I declined the role of advisor.”

The surprise decision to remove Fedorov as defense minister was unpopular in Ukraine, where soldiers and civilians alike see him as a desperately needed catalyst for reform that could turn the war in Ukraine’s favor.

Mass protests, rare in wartime, broke out in Kiev, Kharkiv, Lviv, Dnipro and other major cities on Thursday morning, with thousands of people gathering to call for the decision to be reversed.

Dissent has also spread to Ukraine’s state-run media outlet. United24 MediaHe announced that all broadcasts were suspended on Thursday in protest of Fedorov’s dismissal.

The minister’s dismissal will be finalized when the Ukrainian parliament elects Klymenko as his replacement, which is expected to take place on Thursday or Friday.

“If Fedorov is dismissed, it means that the supply of our army will stop, there will be fewer drones and there will be much less meaningful decisions,” said former combat medic Dmytro Koziatynskyi. Da Vinci Wolves 1st Assault Regiment, speaking to Business Insider.

Koziatynskyi, who now works for the nonprofit organization YourFuture, was one of the first activists to call for protests in Kiev. He said Thursday’s crowd appeared to number in the thousands and was larger than protests in July 2025.

Demonstrations of a similar scale this time last year forced Zelenskyy and his government to backtrack on a parliamentary bill that would strip him of power. Ukraine’s fight against corruption bodies.

Alex is an officer in Ukraine Unmanned System Forces He, who asked to be identified only by his first name for security reasons, called the dismissal a “big mistake” and praised Fedorov for his efforts to fight corruption, offer new contracts and overhaul the military with sweeping changes to promote digitalization.

“Fedorov started changing a lot of mechanisms and rules,” Alex told Business Insider. “And he was on the right track.”

The president’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Fedorov’s dismissal, the protests or concerns raised by the troops.

Why is Fedorov popular?

Fedorov, formerly the minister responsible for digital transformation, is known for his urgency: Silicon Valley style Approach to implementing radical change in a rapidly evolving war.

His tenure as the country’s defense minister coincided with a series of victories for Ukraine. This year, due in part to innovative medium-range drone strikes against enemy logistics, Russia’s battlefield momentum has not only stalled but reversed. their forces are losing territory for the first time in years. Ukraine also intensified its work long range drone campaign Against Russia’s oil industry.

“This is good for Russia,” said a Ukrainian officer. electronic warfare The unit said Fedorov had been dismissed. He also spoke to Business Insider on the condition of anonymity for security reasons.

Tasked with transforming and harmonizing Ukraine Soviet-like military Fedorov, whose structure complies with NATO standards, subjected ministry officials to lie detector tests and uncovered approximately $6.7 billion in overspending through a corruption investigation.

In June, his ministry announced that the system would be overhauled. salary and bonus system for soldiers, pushing for an increase in assault infantry pay to $10,270 a month more foreign fighters to fill the ranks.

Over the past six months, Fedorov has aggressively increased funding for combat drones and cheaper vehicles such as pickup trucks and remote-controlled cars, and launched a number of new programs to ease bureaucratic and workloads. logistical problems for front-line units.

These actions made him wildly popular among Ukraine’s fighters. The commander of the Dovbush Hornets’ drone unit in Donetsk told Business Insider that Fedorov’s dismissal was “a big mistake that will set the army back 1,000 steps.”

“The Ukrainian army needs to be modern and high-tech, and we cannot make progress with Soviet-style leadership,” said the commander, who identifies himself only by the call sign “Fierce” for security purposes.

An enlisted soldier who oversaw drone experiments for a Territorial Defense Force brigade on the southeastern front feared the attacks would slow down. Ukrainian innovation.

“We’re sorry. We fear repercussions,” he told Business Insider, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Losing Ukraine’s trusted drone gurus

One of Fedorov’s first major decisions was to appoint advisors who were considered reliable community leaders, amid popular dissatisfaction with traditional military rule. With his dismissal, two of these leading advisors Serhii Sternenko And Serhii “Flash” BeskrestnovHe said they were dismissed from their positions on Wednesday.

“I had a lot of access to different systems and could analyze the actions of our enemy,” Beskrestnov, one of Ukraine’s leading analysts on drone warfare, wrote in a post on his Telegram channel. “Guess your next steps. I can’t do it anymore.”

operated by Sternenko major fundraising The anti-drone organization said his dismissal “undoubtedly reduces the possibility of him helping to qualitatively change the situation in the army with drones.”

Fedorov’s dismissal also triggered the dismissal of at least one senior commander. Colonel Pavel Yelizarov, deputy commander Ukrainian air forceHe tendered his resignation on Thursday, saying impeachment would “cause a lot of loss of life and destruction in Ukraine.”

Yelizarov, a former TV producer, was the founder of Lasar’s Group, an elite drone unit that destroyed $12 billion worth of Russian equipment. He was put in charge short range air defense systems and interceptor drones In January.

“From what I’ve seen, Fedorov is the best defense minister so far; the most active and willing to reorganize [the] old broken machine,” USF officer Alex said.

Politics aside, another drone commander Chaos in the capital is never good news for those on the front lines, a company in southern Ukraine told Business Insider.

The commander, who identifies himself only by his callsign Fizruk for security purposes, said turmoil over Fedorov’s dismissal risked creating divisions among the troops.

“In my personal opinion, any unwelcome changes do not strengthen our ability to defend at this time,” he said. “I observe what is happening in society because we are on the front line defending society, the Ukrainian people, it saddens me that the situation has become unstable.”

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