Ukrainian protestors in Kyiv on August 15.
Photo: David Kirichenko
Outside the Ivan Franko Drama Theater, close to Maidan in Kyiv, protesters gathered for the 31st day of demonstrations on August 15. Throughout the evening, dozens of young Ukrainians, along with some older pensioners, held cardboard signs and chanted toward the nearby Presidential Office.
“Today is the 31st day the president is not listening to us,” the crowd chanted.
The central issue: the dismissal of Ukraine’s former defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov. President Volodymyr Zelensky formally dismissed Fedorov on July 15, citing disputes with the former commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, who himself was dismissed on July 21.
But for many of the protesters, Fedorov represented something larger than a cabinet position. At 35, he embodied a new generation of leaders that embraced technology and pushed its adoption across the Ukrainian military.
He was blunt about Ukraine’s manpower challenges after taking the defense minister position in January. Speaking to Ukraine’s parliament after he was voted in, Fedorov said, “Today you cannot fight with new technologies using an old organizational structure. Comprehensive changes are needed.”
His approach sought to use technology to compensate for those shortages, lessening the burden of mobilization, which remains a sore point for Ukrainian society.
That approach also put him in contrast with Syrskyi, whom critics saw as representing an older generation of military leadership. Syrskyi made his mark with the defense of Kyiv, the Kharkiv counteroffensive and the incursion into Kursk. But unpopular decisions, such as holding onto Bakhmut despite heavy Ukrainian casualties, led to criticism of his approach to manpower and battlefield losses. He was also criticized for micromanaging military operations, which at times, did play to his strengths such as organizing the surprise Kursk operation.
Across many cities in Ukraine, protests have now continued for more than a month. The number of protesters fluctuates, with certain days attracting larger crowds. In Kyiv, attendance has ranged from hundreds to thousands, according to reporting by the Kyiv Independent.
Cardboard signs used by protestors.
Photo: David Kirichenko
But the demonstrations are not only about Fedorov. Mark Savchuk, a Kyiv resident who fled Mariupol at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, said Fedorov’s dismissal has become a rally point for broader frustration with the government and repeated personnel changes.
“It has to be understood that the main theme of protests is not Fedorov,” Savchuk told me. “The main thing is actually that people are tired of government reshuffling that Zelensky is doing every year.”
Savchuk said Fedorov’s dismissal became a tipping point because he was viewed favorably by many Ukrainians, while other officials seen as less effective have remained in their positions. “So this is not ‘because of Fedorov’ per se,” he said. “He is just a manifestation of people’s anger.”
At the evening protest, Yana Kurinska, a Kyiv resident, helped oversee the water station and donation center for protesters. Nearby, cardboard signs were available for people to take and add their own messages.
She told me people are frustrated by the lack of information or a proper explanation from the president for why Fedorov was fired.
Yana Kurinska volunteering at a protest in Kyiv.
Photo: David Kirichenko
“We have a war, we live in wartime, and it was a very dangerous decision,” Kurinska said. “He was probably the most effective person in that position if we compare him with the other ministers we have had during wartime. His strategy is good. He was probably the only one who had a strategy.”
Kurinska added: “One of his most important ideas, and the idea we support, is that we need to fight with drones, not with people. It’s a technological war, you know, and we want to save the lives of our soldiers.”
That argument helps explain why Fedorov’s dismissal has resonated with younger Ukrainians. For them, the debate over the former defense minister is also about how Ukraine should fight a larger enemy while preserving its most limited resource: its people.
Natalie Litovshikova, originally from Mykolaiv but now living in Kyiv, told me she has attended every day of the protests.
“I haven’t missed a single day,” she said.
Even when she went on vacation to her hometown of Mykolaiv, she joined the protests there. “Activists in Mykolaiv signed a Mykolaiv flag for me, and now I’ll protest here with their words as well,” Litovshikova said.
“We want an effective defense because we simply cannot afford to be ineffective in a war against an enormous enemy like Russia.”
Litovshikova added: “We cannot lose people at the same rate as Russia does or have the same level of corruption as Russia. We have to be three steps ahead of them. Only a modern Minister of Defense can give us that opportunity.”
Even as a young democracy, Ukraine has a rich history of protests, from the Orange Revolution in 2004 to the Revolution of Dignity in 2013. Even during wartime, public demonstrations have pressured the government to change course. When Zelensky signed legislation in the summer of 2025 targeting the independence of Ukraine’s two primary anti-corruption bodies, it triggered a wave of protests, leading the government to reverse course.
Douglas Davis, co-founder of the Ukrainian Alliance for Medical Exchange and Development (UA-MED), who attended the rally, said he was concerned about the controversy surrounding Fedorov’s dismissal, particularly given the relationships Fedorov had developed with Western partners, including Elon Musk. But he was also struck by the demonstrations themselves.
“As an American, seeing Ukrainians, young and old, peacefully expressing their will under martial law, including amid Russian Shahed strikes, is inspiring,” Davis told me. “The peaceful and thoughtful way they are exercising democracy here is being repeated across the country.”
With Russia’s ongoing invasion showing few signs of ending soon, and many Ukrainians, including the country’s youth, understand that the war could last for years. Ukraine cannot match Russia’s population or resources, and for those protesting Fedorov’s dismissal, technology is one way to narrow that imbalance while preserving the soldiers Ukraine cannot afford to lose.
“I just know that every day I have some little mission that needs to be completed,” Kurinska said. “I have some hope that we’ll finally be free.”
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