Zelensky tries to fix crisis over removal of defence minister and counts the cost
With an acting defence minister in place and a new commander-in-chief in charge of the military, Ukraine's recent political crisis is over, right? Not so
With an acting defence minister in place and a new commander-in-chief in charge of the military, Ukraine's recent political crisis is over, right? Not so fast. The political fallout from President Volodymyr Zelensky's 15 July decision not to re-appoint Mykhailo Fedorov as defence minister, as part of a cabinet reshuffle, continues to reverberate about Kyiv and beyond, even as air raid sirens wail and Russian drones and missiles are intercepted overhead.
Fedorov's mostly young supporters are still mounting daily street protests, demanding that Zelensky reinstate the popular young innovator widely credited with driving much of Ukraine's recent technological innovation. On Thursday, Fedorov said
he had rejected Zelensky's offers of alternative posts in government, saying there were only three positions worth having to influence the course of the war: minister of defence, commander-in-chief of the military
or president of Ukraine. "If you don't have a ministry under you, you don't have a budget," e deputy defence minister Alina Frolova said, "and you don't actually have the authority to do something."
The BriefWire