Protests erupted inside a Kharkiv underground metro station and spread onto city streets on Friday as public outrage over President Volodymyr Zelensky’s sweeping government reshuffle entered its ninth consecutive day. Demonstrators gathered in Ukraine's second-largest city to demand the reinstatement of former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, holding placards reading "Reform, not reshuffles" and chanting messages directed at the presidential administration. Fedorov, widely credited with advancing Ukraine’s drone warfare capabilities and digital transformation, was dismissed on July 15 alongside Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko. The growing civic unrest follows reported disagreements over military command structures involving Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, marking a rare wave of public backlash against top-level defense leadership changes amid the ongoing conflict with Russia.
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