Zelensky fired defense minister, delays Putin’s death

The last column – which was widely circulated – predicted that Vladimir Putin is headed for a fall…if things continue on the same trajectory. The trajectory has not changed completely. But almost. And all because Ukrainian President Zelensky decided to fire the highly popular young Defense Minister Mikhailo Fedorov (35) after only six months on the job, six very successful months. As the world knows by now, protests broke out in response in all Ukrainian cities, especially in Kyiv. Social media and comments on the podcast erupted in widespread criticism, even from soldiers in the field. They were then threatened with repercussions by the military. The turmoil continues.

To recap briefly, Fedorov is largely credited with turning the war in Ukraine’s favor. He presided over the mass distribution of drones and all the benefits of it – stopping and reversing the Russian summer offensive, destroying Russian supply lines and refineries, isolating Crimea, bombing Moscow and more. Popular opinion conflates his war successes with his relentless anti-corruption campaign against the old guard. Therefore, it is not surprising that popular sentiment, protest posters and online commentary caused Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Alexander Sirsky (60) as the villain who quietly demanded Fedorov’s ouster. So strong was the outcry that arose that The Financial Times reports Zelensky is now considering ousting Sirsky in turn.

Ukraine’s military had its disasters and its dark side. The costly failed offensive of 2023, the loss of cities and provinces to the Russians, bribery and embezzlementhis reports sadism and torture of the troopsabout 200,000 desertions and the like. Syrsky is associated with the old guard and the old Soviet habits inherited by the armed forces that people blame for such negatives. For such vices notoriously afflict the Russian army by and largethe Ukrainians have adopted the pessimistic slogan, “a small Soviet army will never defeat the great Soviet army.” In addition, stories are now emerging of Sirki’s alleged deadly revenge against combat soldiers and officers who defy him. Here is a prominent Ukrainian YouTuber, Denys Davidov, on these matters

Sirsky received his initial military training in Russia. He is Russian and all his relatives live there. Either way, he’s been at the top of Ukraine’s military since 2019. It’s no surprise that people accuse him of stockpiling negatives and advance all sorts of conspiracy theories – that he doesn’t want a victory but a stalemate, that Zelensky is backing him to extend the conflict as a way to stay in power. covering up the past – and ultimately to preserve their last piece of the oligarchic system that Ukraine has been fighting since independence.

It is no exaggeration to say that the Fedorov case has dealt a huge blow to the morale of Ukraine, besieged by nightly ballistic missile attacks on civilian areas, on buses and markets, and on families in apartment buildings – every facet of normal life. It became a race between the collapse of Ukrainian society and the collapse of Putin’s power. Increasingly, there was hope that the latter would collapse first with Russia’s loss of Crimea, drone attacks on Moscow, fuel lines and the like. Hence my previous column. The Ukrainians could keep going until they win. They could endure suffering with hope. But with Fedorov destroyed, with the Russians attacking on one side and their own principles overthrown on the other, suddenly hope seems lost.

For both civil society and the troops, there is a resurgence of pointless, pointless, endurance. The return of endless war and unceasing adversity. See Denys Davidov’s YouTube above for this mood. It is invoked from the 18th minute the position of a front-line soldier, a veteran of this and previous years of conflict against Russia, who speaks of utter dismay at Fedorov’s firing. The soldier talks about Fedorov’s reforms and the escalation of drone numbers, but mostly about his betrayal by Soviet-era generals.

Let us pause and briefly describe what this oft-mentioned concept of Soviet characteristics means. Faith over ability is the primary flaw. Even Fedorov inside his public message after his dismissal he tacitly criticized Syrsky for the consequences of this. Many evils flow from it. Entrenched resistance to reform. Fact about opacity and corruption. Iron rule from top to bottom without regard to voices from below, complaints, suggestions or innovations. Fedorov’s techno revolution, replacing men with machines, saving lives and giving initiative to drone operators, clearly challenged this ethos. Also, his attempt to fully digitize warfighting (thereby ushering in the war of the future) meant a new transparency that measured and rewarded achievement on the front lines. In short, meritocracy versus blind faith.

That, at least, is the narrative of the extended review. You can see that it challenges the entire history of warfare from the ancients to the present day – ie bonding in suffering, unit cohesion, vertical obedience, and more. And, after all, Syrsky is a military man to the bone – however wedded to earlier conventions – while Fedorov is, as it were, a technocrat. It is too early to say whether the new war threatens the old prerequisites of fighting and bonding, but it has certainly overcome the rotten habits of the Russian military.

Currently, Zelensky has offered Fedorov a role as a presidential adviser and a job as a kind of high-tech czar of the armed forces – both to no avail. Fedorov’s impact in six months was so significant that Ukraine, Russia, Europe and indeed the world will be affected by his fate. However, at the time of writing, it appears that the Ukrainian leadership has seized defeat from the jaws of victory and Zelensky has halted Putin’s inevitable downfall.