Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has fired the country’s top commander, General Oleksandr Shirschiy, following days of widespread protests against the removal of the popular defense minister.
The dismissal of Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov last week sparked days of street protests and exposed unprecedented public divisions within the military over Kiev’s strategy in the war against Russia.
President Zelenskiy on Tuesday offered Fedorov “an important position in the government that will allow us to unify the technical elements of the state and ensure the development of the state.” It is not clear whether this offer was accepted.
Fedorov, 35, has built a reputation for pioneering and innovative approaches to technology and recruitment, but he has clashed with other members of Ukraine’s defense establishment.
His six-month tenure as defense minister coincided with recent battlefield successes in Ukraine, and his dismissal amid disagreements with Shirshiky sparked a backlash against military commanders.
Mr. Fedorov’s policy emphasizes the strategic importance of new military technologies, particularly drones, which have hindered Russian advances on the battlefield and caused widespread damage to oil refineries in the Russian hinterland.
As protests against Fedorov’s ouster continued, speculation over Shirschiky’s future increased. On Monday, President Zelenskiy met with several top Ukrainian generals, and the chief of staff issued a confidential statement saying he had “listened to the position of society.”
Mr. Shirschiky, who rarely expresses his views publicly, wrote an op-ed in local military media on Monday, apologizing if he had offended Mr. Fedorov. He also insisted on establishing a drone force as an independent military branch and rejected suggestions that he would not support widespread use of drones.
“You can’t switch a million troops to drones in two months and say, ‘This is how we fight from now on,'” he wrote. “Aside from the fact that this is clearly a reckless undertaking, any experiment of this scale comes at the expense of our land and our people.”
Shirushkyi will be replaced by Mykhailo Drapati, commander of the Joint Forces of Ukraine.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
