Ukrainian President Zelenskyy’s dismissal of popular defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov amid the government reshuffle has sparked protests across the country, with thousands of young people going out into the streets in spite of the wartime danger of Russian strikes.

“We have the beginnings of a new kind of Maidan situation, (...) where younger people in particular are coming out (...) saying: ‘No, we're not going to accept this. You’ve not explained it. What are the reasons behind it? What are you covering up? And this is not the Ukraine we’re fighting for,’” Bohdan Nahaylo, Editor-in-Chief at the Kyiv Post, told TVP World, pointing out that it would not be the first time Zelenskyy dismisses high-ranking officials apparently on a whim. Nahaylo also noted that similar protests broke out following last year’s abortive crackdown on anti-corruption institutions.

He characterizes the push-back as a fundamentally generational conflict, marked by different approaches to corruption.

“As far as the new elections, this is a call for new political forces: ‘We don't want to see (...) the old political dinosaurs reemerging,’” Nahaylo said.

Join TVP World’s Maciej Mikos and his guest, as they explore how Fedorov became widely-regarded as a capable defense minister, how Zelenskyy’s reputation as a wartime leader abroad contrasts with his performance at home, and how Ukraine’s constitutional political order has been bent beyond recognition to focus all the decision-making powers in the presidential palace.

Chapters:
00:00 Zelenskyy’s gov’t reshuffle and the dismissal of Defense Minister Fedorov
01:53 Public backlash and Fedorov’s rise as a political figure
06:16 Modern warfare, corruption, and the political threat to Zelenskyy
11:13 Institutional reshuffles and the struggle over state power
14:17 Military continuity and the push for political decentralization