As thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets on Thursday to protest against President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's dismissal of Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, the former minister publicly acknowledged that his conflict with Ukraine's commander-in-chief had contributed to his removal.
Speaking at a tense media briefing, Fedorov revealed that Zelenskyy had been forced to choose between him and Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi. However, he insisted that he had never presented the president with an ultimatum of "either me or Syrskyi".
"I said then we will win with this commander-in-chief."
According to Fedorov, he accepted the president's decision despite their differences.
"When the president said he did not plan to dismiss Syrskyi, I said that I agreed. It is his decision as supreme commander-in-chief and I would learn to work with him, because ultimately our client is the Ukrainian people, not anyone else," he said.
