Political crisis and protests in Ukraine as Zelenskyy defends sacking defence minister

<p>President says he had to choose ‘one side or the other’ after breakdown of relations between ministry and military leaders</p><p>Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has defended his decision to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/15/volodymyr-zelenskyy-dismisses-ukraines-popular-defence-minister">dismiss the country’s popular defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov</a>, and confirmed reports that relations had broken down between the ministry and the country’s top army leadership.</p><p>Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv with the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, Zelenskyy said there had been a “challenging dialogue” between Fedorov – widely seen as a reformist and moderniser – and the military’s commander in chief, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/17/zelenskyy-defends-sacking-ukraine-defence-minister-mykhailo-fedorov">Continue reading...</a>