{"id":13258,"date":"2026-07-22T05:24:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T00:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=13258"},"modified":"2026-07-22T05:24:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T00:24:49","slug":"zelensky-dismisses-ukrainian-military-leader-oleksandr-syrskyi-after-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=13258","title":{"rendered":"Zelensky dismisses Ukrainian military leader Oleksandr Syrskyi after protests"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/ph\/st\/th\/6271784673404\/2026\/upi_com\/851381e4d335dc21931df4df5bc32e18\/v1.5\/Zelensky-dismisses-Ukrainian-military-leader-after-protests.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>1 of 2 | Demonstrators hold signs Saturday in support of Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine&#8217;s former defense minister, during a protest in central Kyiv, Ukraine. On Tuesday, President Volodymyr<br \/>\nZelensky dismissed military commander Oleksandr Syrskyi and said he&#8217;s offered Fedorov a new position. Photo by Sergey Dolzhenko\/EPA<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p><span class=\"story_dl\">July 21 (UPI) &#8212;<\/span> Ukrainian President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/topic\/Volodymyr-Zelensky\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Volodymyr Zelensky\" class=\"tpstyle\">Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a> dismissed the commander of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/topic\/Russia-Ukraine-War\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"War in Ukraine\" class=\"tpstyle\">Ukraine<\/a>&#8216;s armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, on Tuesday following days of protests.<\/p>\n<p>The protests, which involved thousands of people in Kyiv and other cities, were in response to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Top_News\/World-News\/2026\/07\/16\/Ukraine-protests-after-defense-minister-fired\/9561784202074\/\" target=\"_blank\">dismissal of Mykhailo Fedorov<\/a>, a popular defense minister, last week.\n<\/p>\n<p>Fedorov, who has a reputation for innovation and whose policies &#8212; including an effective <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/topic\/drones\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Drones\" class=\"tpstyle\">drone<\/a> program &#8212; are seen as reasons for Ukraine&#8217;s recent success against Russia, was not popular with senior defense leaders, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/07\/21\/europe\/ukraine-military-chief-sacked-intl\" target=\"_blank\">CNN reported.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Zelensky dismissed Fedorov, leading to protestors demanding Syrskyi&#8217;s removal and for the defense minister to be reinstated by Friday. In his address announcing the commander&#8217;s dismissal Tuesday, the president said he is appointing Mykhailo Drapati, a well-liked general, to Syrskyi&#8217;s role to oversee a reorganization of the army&#8217;s command structure.<\/p>\n<p>Drapati is considered an ally of Fedorov, whose attempts to modernize and reform Ukraine&#8217;s military led to the clashes with old-school military leaders, such as Syrskyi, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/jul\/21\/zelenskyy-replaces-military-leader-and-brings-back-defence-minister-he-sacked\" target=\"_blank\">The Guardian reported.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Zelensky also said Tuesday that he has offered Fedorov a &#8220;prominent position&#8221; in the government, as the defense minister role has been filled by Yevhen Khmara. There was no word on if Fedorov accepted.\n<\/p>\n<p>Zelensky thanked Syrskyi for his service and praised his role in Ukraine&#8217;s military operations against Russia.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Oleksandr Syrskyi ensured Ukraine&#8217;s results in the defense of Kyiv, the Kharkiv counteroffensive and the Kursk operation,&#8221; he said, <a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/breaking-zelensky-dismisses-commander-in-chief-syrskyi-amid-widespread-protests\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Kyiv Independent reported<\/a>. &#8220;A significant path has been traveled. The defense of Ukraine continues, and every warrior deserves dignified treatment. I am grateful to Oleksandr Syrskyi and to every one of our soldiers for Ukraine&#8217;s strong frontline positions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Fedorov said Tuesday that he welcomed Drapati&#8217;s appointment.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This brings a breath of fresh air and new hope to the struggle of free people for freedom and justice,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It is a voice for change that could not be ignored.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Fedorov continued to say, &#8220;The high expectations of the Ukrainian people must be met with a clear vision for ending the war for independence, a strong team and decisive actions aimed at saving the lives ofour soldiers, automating the front line, delivering asymmetric strikes and crippling the Russian economy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1 of 2 | Demonstrators hold signs Saturday in support of Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine&#8217;s former defense minister, during a protest in central Kyiv, Ukraine. On Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed military commander Oleksandr Syrskyi and said he&#8217;s offered Fedorov a new position. Photo by Sergey Dolzhenko\/EPA July 21 (UPI) &#8212; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/sv\/ph\/og\/upi_com\/6271784673404\/2026\/1\/851381e4d335dc21931df4df5bc32e18\/v1.5\/Zelensky-dismisses-Ukrainian-military-leader-after-protests.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}