Kyiv Protesters Demand General Syrskyi's Ouster
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- Kyiv protesters on Friday mocked General Oleksandr Syrskyi with cheese-themed signs — his name rhymes with the Ukrainian word for cheese — and chanted "Syrskyi, go away!" and "You chose the wrong one!" in Franka Square, the first time demonstrators have personally targeted a top commander since the 2022 invasion.
- President Zelensky ousted Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, 35, this week after Fedorov accused Syrskyi of blocking the broader deployment of ground robots in the army and clashed with the general staff over war strategy.
- Protest leader Dmitry Kozyatanskyi, a former military medic with a large social media following, accused Syrskyi of "demoralizing the army, sabotages reforms, creates his own loyal troops, infringes on freedom of speech and represses soldiers" and proposed a rally specifically demanding his removal.
- Serhiy Beskrestnov, a Fedorov adviser and widely read drone blogger known as "Flash," was appointed by Zelensky as a presidential adviser on military technology on Friday — an apparent gesture to the Fedorov supporters in the streets.
- Syrskyi's defenders counter that frustration over the military draft, high casualties, and Russian missiles slipping through air defenses is being unfairly directed at the general, and they dismiss Fedorov's extensive robot warfare push as "a fantasy sold by technocrats."
- Ukrainian overnight drone strikes hit Wildberries e-commerce warehouses in Russia's Tambov region (22 hospitalized, 7 critical) and Moscow region (1 dead, ~60 wounded, 9 critical), killing 8 people total as Kyiv's "long-range sanctions" campaign against Russian infrastructure continues.
Why it matters: This marks the first time wartime Ukraine's public has turned directly on its top general, with Zelensky publicly siding with Syrskyi over the ousted Fedorov. Given Ukraine's history — where 2004 and 2014 protests toppled or reshaped leadership, and Zelensky himself reversed course on anti-corruption policies last year under similar pressure — even modest street demonstrations against a wartime commander carry real political weight.
