Protests in support of Fedorov are continuing for a second day in Kyiv and other cities
On July 17, for the second day in a row, rallies in support of Mykhailo Fedorov are taking place in Kyiv and a number of other cities across Ukraine. Protesters are demanding that he be reinstated as defense minister.
In Kyiv, people gathered near the Ivan Franko National Theater. They chanted “Bring Back Fedorov,” “Down with Syrskyi,” and “Glory to Ukraine,” and sang the national anthem. According to a correspondent for “Suspilne,” the demands of the Kyiv protesters on this day included the resignation of Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the cancellation of the parliamentary recess until August 18.
According to “Ukrainska Pravda” correspondents, there were significantly more participants in the capital than during the rally on July 16. An “Interfax-Ukraine” correspondent estimated the number of attendees at at least 10,000 people. Protesters filled the park, roadways, and sections of the adjacent streets—Olgynska, Hrushevsky, and Stupka. Dialogue police were on duty at the site and near the metro station.
Protests also took place in Lviv, Odesa, Dnipro, Uzhhorod, Rivne, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, Poltava, Kharkiv, and Mykolaiv. In Lviv, people gathered near the Taras Shevchenko monument on Svobody Avenue. In Odesa, the protest on Deribasivska Street began around 6:00 p.m. despite an air raid alert: initially, there were about 50 people there, and by 7:50 p.m., more than 500 had gathered.
In Poltava, about 500 people took to the square near the Gogol Theater to protest. In Kharkiv, air raid sirens sounded several times during the rally; after the explosions, participants went down to the metro and returned once the all-clear was given. At rallies in various cities, there were also calls for military reform, the release of prisoners of war, and the broader use of technology in the military.
On July 16, the Verkhovna Rada appointed a new Cabinet of Ministers headed by Serhiy Koretskyi; however, the ministers of defense and foreign affairs are to be appointed by parliament at a later date. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he would propose to the Verkhovna Rada that Yevhen Khmara, who is currently the acting head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and will serve as acting Minister of Defense at the president’s request, be appointed Minister of Defense.
