New large-scale youth protests in the center of Kyiv have taken place after former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov refused to return to the government under the conditions offered by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Thousands of people on the evening of July 24 held cardboard signs reading: “We demand accountability for the decisions made,” “Roll back Fedorov,” “Bring Fedorov Back,” and, most commonly, “WE ARE NOT FINISHED TALKING.”
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The continued action is in response the president’s concessions following recent protests (the dismissal of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi and the appointment of a new commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Drapatyi), but the fact the root issue – the dismissal of Yuliia Svyrydenko’s government in order to remove Mykhailo Fedorov from the post of Defense Minister – has not been addressed.
Fedorov’s reinstatement as minister of defense remains the protesters’ main demand. Young people chanting “If you made a mistake – fix it!” embodies the very essence of the protest movement.
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The offer and the refusal
President Zelensky was indeed prepared to bring Fedorov back into the government, formally even with broader powers.
The problem was that restoring Fedorov to his previous position would have meant returning to the status quo that existed before July 15 – the very situation the entire series of political reshuffles had been intended to change.
By that point, significant personnel changes had already taken place. Combat general of the Security Service of Ukraine, Yevhen Khmara, who led the well-known “Spiderweb” operation that destroyed enemy strategic aviation a year earlier, had been appointed acting defense minister. It would have been strange to move him back again, especially since a new acting head of the Security Service had already been appointed as well.
The new defense minister and the new Commander-in-Chief, General Mykhailo Drapatyi, even released a joint photo together, stating that they would work together to improve the situation and advance military reforms.
Moreover, bringing Fedorov back would have signaled a complete victory for the street protests and demonstrated presidential weakness in the eyes of the bureaucratic establishment – something Zelensky is unlikely to be able to afford.
Against this backdrop, even prominent critics of Zelensky, including those sympathetic to former President Petro Poroshenko – such as Kyiv-Mohyla Academy professor Oleksii Haran – began advising Fedorov to accept Zelensky’s proposal in order to prevent the protests from escalating further.
Formally, the offer was quite attractive – deputy prime minister for Technological Development. On paper, this position ranks above that of a minister. Indeed, from a bureaucratic standpoint, a deputy prime minister exercises authority over ministers, who are required to carry out his or her so-called “supervisory directives.”
However, there is a difference between formal authority and real authority. In practice, it is the minister and the minister’s team who run the ministry. While a deputy prime minister’s directives must be followed, he cannot bypass the minister and directly manage the ministry through such orders. The levers of day-to-day administration remain in the minister’s hands. A deputy prime minister without his own ministry is a weak position.
According to Kyiv Post sources, this was most likely the reason why Fedorov declined the offer.
A dead end?
Fedorov responded by saying that he would return only to the position from which he had been removed – that is, to the Ministry of Defense. According to him, only that office provides the authority necessary to carry out reforms and bring Ukraine closer to victory.
From this perspective, the protest movement – disappointed by the president’s decision – also plays an important role. Had Fedorov accepted the new position, many observers believe it would have been seen as a betrayal of the protests, even though Fedorov himself never called for the demonstrations and merely thanked people for their support.
At the same time, various opinion polls already place Fedorov third in terms of presidential approval ratings, behind only Zelensky and Ambassador of Ukraine to the UK Valerii Zaluzhny, despite the fact that, like Zaluzhny, he has never stated that he intends to run for office.
Nevertheless, time passes, and each day brings a new political agenda. Under these circumstances, whether Fedorov can preserve his chances of returning will largely depend on how large the protests in central Kyiv remain and how long they continue.
For now, swathes of people continue to attend. As before, the driving force behind the demonstrations is young people, whose attitudes tend to change more slowly than those of society as a whole.
Meanwhile, new forms of support are emerging at Franko Square in Kyiv. Volunteers are bringing their own vehicles stocked with refreshments. There is a possibility that the protest could evolve into a permanent gathering.
However, whether the protesters will have the endurance to sustain such a movement under wartime conditions will become clear in the coming days.
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