The leader of weeks of protests against Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s sacking of Mykhailo Fedorov as defence minister appeared to call them off after Fedorov demanded elections. The pro-Fedorov movement’s chief organiser, veteran combat medic Dmytro Koziatynskyi, said he “cannot imagine” how to hold polls with troops at the front and the protests had been about seeking dialogue with the government. Elections are considered impossible and illegal under Ukrainian law because of the war.
“I’m also deeply concerned about the societal divisions during the election process and how that could affect the course of the war,” Koziatynskyi said. “In any case, street protests are definitely not the place for electoral discourse.” The Reuters news agency said that on Wednesday only a few dozen people remained in a central Kyiv square where thousands once protested. “When we came out to protest, we did not come with the idea that elections should be held,” said 22-year-old Iryna Vasyliaka. “That is not what we were here for.”
Fedorov’s call for elections appeared to be a clumsy misstep, one opposition lawmaker told Reuters. “This demonstrates that [Fedorov] doesn’t have a presidential-level feel for the country.” Olena Prokopenko from the German Marshall Fund said Fedorov’s move was a “false start” that could burn his political capital before elections would realistically be held. “With this statement, he pretty much played on Ukrainians’ most sensitive pain points.” Ukraine’s parliament this week strongly endorsed Zelenskyy’s new defence minister and Fedorov’s successor, Yevhenii Khmara; but the protests did force Ukraine’s president to replace Oleksandr Syrskyi, the disliked “Soviet-style” head of Ukraine’s military, with a younger military reformer, Mykhailo Drapatyi.
