Zelenskyy fires both army chief and defense minister. Poll taken mid-protest shows Ukrainians only wanted one of them gone

Ukrainians opposed the firing of their defense minister by 14 to one. A Rating Group survey conducted on 20-21 July found that 72% of Ukrainians did not support Mykhailo Fedorov’s dismissal as defense minister and 5% supported it, while 55% backed Oleksandr Syrskyi’s resignation as commander-in-chief and 15% opposed it.

Zelenskyy dismissed Fedorov on 15 July after six months as defense minister, and Fedorov said the day after that Syrskyi had given him an ultimatum and blocked his reforms. After that, protests broke out in Kyiv and at least 16 other cities demanding Fedorov’s return and Syrskyi’s removal.

On 21 July, Zelenskyy dismissed Syrskyi and named Mykhailo Drapatyi commander-in-chief. Meanwhile, Fedorov remains outside the government, and protests continue.  

Numbers match what streets were chanting

The survey ran on the fifth and sixth days of protests that began on 16 July, when demonstrators in Kyiv and at least 16 other cities carried cardboard signs reading “Bring Fedorov back” and “Syrskyi out.”

Rating Group’s figures put a national number on those two slogans and show they carried different weights. Nearly three-quarters of Ukrainians rejected the removal of the reformist minister who ran drone procurement and the Army of Drones program. A smaller but decisive majority wanted the commander-in-chief, whose command style soldiers criticized, to go.

Zelenskyy has met weaker demand and left stronger one open

The sequencing now sits awkwardly against the numbers. Zelenskyy dismissed Syrskyi on 21 July and appointed Drapatyi in his place, the change 55% wanted. He has not made his decision on Fedorov, the man whom most Ukrainians did not want removed, though he met him on 21 July, and reports have suggested a possible role in coordinating military technology.

Earlier, protesters demanding the return of dismissed defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov set the government a deadline: reinstate him and remove Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi by 24 July, or they will begin open-ended nightly rallies. 

It is the second time in a year that Ukraine’s streets have set terms on one of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s wartime decisions. Last summer, a week of rallies forced him to reverse a law that curbed the independence of the country’s anti-corruption agencies.