Protests pressure Zelenski to fire head of the Armed Forces

The crisis began last Thursday (16), when rare protests in a country at war since the 2022 Russian invasion broke out in large cities, Kiev at the forefront.

They called for the return to office of Mikhailo Fedorov, the popular defense minister credited with a campaign of drone and missile attacks that led to a fuel crisis in Russia, putting pressure on Vladimir Putin.

Zelensky had fired Fedorov for two apparent reasons: the 35-year-old's political rise, something that could overshadow him, and mainly the feud between Fedorov and Sirskii. The commander is seen as a representative of the military mentality of Soviet Ukraine, favoring high manpower tactics and a meritocracy based on loyalty.

On Monday night (20), the president said in his usual evening speech that he had spoken about the situation with other military leaders, and specifically cited the commander of the Joint Forces, Mikhailo Drapatii, the leader of the Airborne Forces, Oleh Apostol, and the number 2 of the General Staff, Volodimir Horbatiuk.

The speech stirred up the protesters because Drapatii is the name most mentioned in the protests to take Sirskii's place. It is uncertain whether Zelensky, if he even offers the current commander's head, will accept the street's demand for Fedorov's return to power.

The president provisionally appointed Ievhenii Khmara, who was also acting head of the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine, in the local acronym) since the beginning of the year and gained reputation precisely with the actions of his unit on Russian soil.

The crisis is yet another chapter in internal power struggles in Ukraine. Sirskii himself had been appointed to replace Valeri Zalujni, widely seen as the most popular man in Ukraine and a likely candidate for president when the country holds elections again - Zelensky's term ends in 2024, but the law does not allow elections during martial law.

Sirskii still tried to contain the damage this Tuesday, stating that he "had not noticed" the disagreements over the conduct of the conflict that Fedorov made public after being fired, and apologized. Maybe it's too late.

Zelensky, like Putin, encourages rivalries among his subordinates and seeks to legitimize his position through popular support, which makes him sensitive to pressure from the street. Last year, when the biggest protests yet emerged, he gave up on a law that took powers away from investigative bodies, for example.

As the political drama unfolds, the military continues the escalating course of recent weeks, with the Black Sea once again emerging as a battlefield.

This Tuesday, Russia carried out new attacks against port facilities in the Odessa region, Ukraine's main grain export terminal. According to the Kremlin, bombings will continue against ships supplying Zelensky's forces, but civilian infrastructure is being destroyed in the process.

Near the coast of Romania, a drone hit a gas ship heading to Odessa. Russian Defense claimed to have targeted a total of four vessels in the region, one in the port of Mikolaiv and another three at sea crossing.

The Putin government has already restricted ship anchoring areas in the Sea of Azov, a northern stretch of the Black Sea connected to it by the Kerch Strait, next to occupied Crimea. Kiev has targeted more than a hundred vessels in this region in recent weeks, adding targets to its campaign against the Russian energy system.

Ships will now only be allowed in areas designated as protected, an admission that Russia has no control over the airspace it has seized for itself over southern Ukraine.

Side-by-side campaign violence remains on the rise, and according to the UN the first half of the year was the deadliest for Ukrainian civilians since March 2022, the second month of the war.

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