Ukrainian soldiers and civilians told AFP on Wednesday they welcomed the appointment of Mykhailo Drapaty as the new army commander in the fifth year of Russia’s invasion, and they were still hoping for the return of a popular defense minister. The surprise replacement of reformist minister Mykhailo Fedorov last week brought several thousand people to the streets demanding his reinstatement and the removal of army chief Oleksandr Syrsky. JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Faced with the largest war-related protests since Russia’s 2022 invasion, President Volodymyr Zelensky sacked Syrsky on Tuesday and replaced him with Drapaty. In Izyum, a city 30 kilometers (20 miles) from Russian positions, a 22-year-old soldier who gave his military nickname Khrest said Syrsky’s departure was a “good thing” but still wanted Fedorov to return to government. According to Khrest, Fedorov was lobbying for the widespread introduction of fixed-term contracts – a key demand by soldiers, many of whom are fighting without a set term, even though the war is in its fifth year. “He’s introducing contracts so that mobilized soldiers at least know how long they’ll have to serve,” the soldier told AFP. “And he’s also trying to make sure soldiers get some rest.” Respected ‘combat officer’ Svitlana, 48, a nurse in an airborne assault unit, also saw the arrival of Drapaty – a respected “combat officer” – as “positive.”