Mykhailo Fedorov was removed as Ukrainian Defence Minister, and protests spread across the country. The dismissal came after he had been brought into the Ministry of Defence in January 2026 with a mandate to push changes to Ukraine’s military system.
Fedorov had arrived with a plan to change how Ukraine fights. He had overseen the scaling of UAV production, the use of incentive structures to prioritise targeting, and the digital networking of Ukraine’s forces. He also sat in Stavka, which gave him a direct role in shaping military decisions.
Ministry of Defence in January
When Fedorov came into office, Ukrainian corps had their subordinate brigades spread along the front in non-contiguous geography. After an initial audit, he concluded that around a sixth of Ukraine’s 120 brigades suffered disproportionately from poor leadership. He proposed consolidating underperforming brigades and moving their personnel into better led units.
He also wanted to strengthen the Army Corps so they could group resources and establish rotation in their sectors. Ukraine’s Inspector General of the Armed Forces had concluded that troops should be rotated in less than 40 days, while brigade commanders had left soldiers in the combat area for up to 200 days at a time.
Defence Ministry and General Staff
President Zelesnky initially presented the dismissal as the result of a personal clash between Fedorov and General Oleksandr Syrsky. That version of events left out the wider dispute: the removal also exposed unresolved issues between the Defence Ministry and General Staff over brigade performance, troop rotation, and the role of technology in the war effort.
Fedorov’s backers had seen him as the official pushing for a leaner, more technologically driven force. His critics had to answer a practical question the dismissal did not settle: whether Ukraine would keep trying to merge weak brigades, rotate troops faster, and empower the commanders most able to use technology in new ways, or leave that overhaul unfinished.
Ukraine’s civil response
The protests that followed the removal moved beyond a cabinet change. Ukrainian civil society reacted because the firing touched the structure of the war itself, not just the name of one minister. Fedorov’s exit left the Defence Ministry and General Staff still facing the same disputes over how to organize brigades, how long soldiers stay in the field, and how quickly new systems are adopted.
That unresolved fight is now the next issue on the table. The immediate consequence is not another personnel announcement but pressure on Zelesnky, the Defence Ministry, and General Staff to decide whether Fedorov’s reform plan was an interruption or the point from which Ukraine’s military structure will now turn back.
