Kyiv Protests Enter Fourth Day Over Fedorov Dismissal

For Serbia, which runs its foreign policy along a thin line between its European path and energy dependence on Moscow, any fresh escalation on the Ukrainian front is never a distant story: it feeds into the price of gas, into grain flows across the Black Sea, and into Belgrade’s diplomatic balancing act before Brussels. That is why the internal crisis in Kyiv, which has moved from the president’s office out onto the streets, deserves attention here as well.

The protests triggered by the dismissal of Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov have entered a fourth day and spread from central Kyiv to several Ukrainian cities. Demonstrators, who filled the squares with Ukrainian flags and banners, are demanding two things: the reinstatement of the sacked minister and the removal of top commander Oleksandr Syrsky.

A defence crisis that spilled onto the street

Fedorov, who ran the ministry for seven months and was seen publicly as one of the most recognisable figures of the wartime administration, said after his removal that the commander had “split the country”. Spoken at a moment when the front demands unity, that line turned a personnel decision into a political question. Alongside the demonstrations, some of Fedorov’s aides resigned, giving discontent within the military structures a public face.

President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the situation after the first days of protest, saying decisions on the army would follow talks with Syrsky and Fedorov, yet the mood on the streets has not settled. For a president who spent years building an image of a united wartime nation, the sight of his own citizens demanding the removal of his choice of commander represents a new kind of pressure, this time from within.

The crisis comes as the war on the ground sharpens further. Russia carried out its largest ballistic attack on Kyiv since the invasion began, firing 41 missiles by Ukrainian counts, alongside a larger wave of drones. Air defences shot down almost half of the missiles, but residential buildings, offices and civilian infrastructure were hit. One person was killed and 16 wounded in the capital, with further casualties in other cities, including four dead in Kharkiv.

What does a change of commander mean for the front?

Ukraine answered the latest wave of strikes by hitting Russian energy targets, including two oil tankers in the Black Sea, continuing its strategy of draining supplies to the peninsula under Russian control. The conflict fought on land is thus shifting increasingly onto maritime and energy routes, and it is precisely those routes that most directly touch the markets Serbia’s economy relies on.

For European capitals, the sight of a divided Ukrainian leadership amid intensified Russian attacks is not a Kyiv-only matter. For two years Brussels has presented Ukrainian resilience as proof that aggression can be halted; every crack in that picture raises the question of how much internal turbulence Western support is prepared to withstand, not just external pressure. For Serbia, which remains outside the sanctions regime against Moscow, every prolonged escalation means a longer stretch of uncertainty over energy prices and pressure to take a clearer side than it has so far.

Whether Zelensky yields to the demands of the street or keeps Syrsky and risks the protests dragging on will become clear in the coming days. And how closely, in your view, should Belgrade be watching what unfolds in Kyiv?