How Ukraine's Gen Z forced a major military shake-up in wartime

Diary of Resilience/ Mridula Ghosh/Kyiv

The Ivan Franko Square is visible from the upper floors of the office of the president of Ukraine. At 9pm on July 21, streams of young people—students and professionals—filled the square, squatting and chanting slogans. Others chatted; some drew fresh placards with marker pens. More women than men were present, understandably, because many men have been mobilised.

Near me stood Nina from Mykolayiv, holding a placard that read “We See Everything!” Soon, a young lawyer, Yurko, appeared with a trident-shaped placard bearing national poet Taras Shevchenko’s line: “If you fight, you shall win.” The atmosphere was carnivalesque, but it did not subdue their outrage and anger—it matured it, giving it the required nuance and vibrant energy.

For more than a week, protests were held all over Ukraine—in Kyiv, Lviv and even war-torn Kharkiv and Odesa—against sudden governmental changes. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had removed the whole cabinet of ministers in a sweeping move that, according to the demonstrators, was not adequately explained to the people. Sirens sounded now and then; Kyiv suffered severe missile attacks on the night of July 18. But the protests went on.

At the centre of the nationwide protests was Zelenskyy’s removal of defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov, a tech-savvy young politician, only 35, who rose to prominence during Zelenskyy’s 2019 presidential campaign and then served as minister of digital transformation under three successive prime ministers. His achievements were substantial: he introduced more than 18 services on the digital platform Diia, which helped Ukrainians obtain basic documents electronically, receive payments, register businesses, get Covid-19 vaccine certificates and even get married. Today, Ukraine’s digital footprint is ahead of many European countries. In January 2026, he became minister of defence.

During these six months, his role in digitalising and modernising warfare tactics and in the use of drone technology was equally smart and epochal—for the past several months, Ukraine has carried out targeted strategic strikes deep in Russian territory, destroying oil fields and refineries that Russia’s air defence faltered to intercept. Ukraine was also asked by Middle Eastern countries to help with anti-drone technology when Iran began attacking Gulf states. Several European nations have also shown interest and signed contracts with Ukraine for help in developing these modern, low-cost weapons of war. Fedorov also revealed corruption within the system and uprooted it through digitalisation.

This new page in the history of the war made Fedorov a favourite of Ukraine’s Gen Z, who came out to the streets in his support. However, the protesters were sceptical that Fedorov would be reinstated. Fedorov himself declined several positions and it is now expected that he will be offered a larger role in coordinating defence technology; a new post within the national security and defence council may also be created.

The Achilles heel of Ukraine’s defence was that Fedorov could not sustain the required level of dialogue with former commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, exposing deep divisions over military reform and battlefield strategy. Syrskyi was highly successful—winning the Battle of Kyiv in 2022, pushing Russian forces away from Kharkiv in 2022 and leading the Kursk operation in 2024. But, more recently, he had grown unpopular over problems with recruitment, mobilisation and supply. After Fedorov publicly criticised Syrskyi’s leadership, the protesters called for the latter’s removal.

Speaking to the protesters, I sensed they anticipated Syrskyi’s removal. At around 10pm on July 21, Zelenskyy announced that Syrskyi would be replaced by 43-year-old Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi as commander-in-chief. Following the removal of Valeriy Zaluzhnyi as commander-in-chief in February 2024, this is the most significant shake-up of the country’s military leadership since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Drapatyi led multiple critical military operations successfully. A viral video shows him, then commander of second battalion of the 72nd Mechanized Brigade, driving a BMP and barging into Mariupol in 2014, stopping Russian occupation. Other key ground operations include liberation of Kharkiv, Kherson and Donbas regions. A top graduate of the National Defence University, Drapatyi was awarded the Queen’s Sword of the United Kingdom in 2021.

Thanking Syrskyi for his valuable contribution, Zelenskyy held several rounds of intense negotiations with Drapatyi, internal security agency SBU’s special operations commander Yevhen Khmara and presidential office deputy head Pavlo Palisa on restructuring the general staff.

The protesters were jubilant—they had finally been heard. Last year, there was a similar civil protest against the removal of anti-corruption bodies and the protesters succeeded in getting what they demanded. Some seniors were critical about such issues being resolved by street protests, but others praised the Ukrainian youth. Seventy-year-old Mykola said: “Had it been anywhere in Europe, several cars would have been burnt, properties destroyed and shops looted. I shall die in peace that we have such young people. And our president is wise enough to listen to them.”

However strange it might seem for any democracy, for Ukraine—under martial law and total war for four and a half years—such peaceful protests are a miracle. Ukraine needs to stay strong in order to tackle further challenges from Russia, which plans to open another war front, announce mobilisation of almost half a million soldiers and perhaps get more missiles with help from China and other countries that help Russia evade sanctions. In Russia, no one will protest; no one will be heard. It is easy for the Russian leadership to do anything with its people.

But it will never be possible for Russia to win the war, precisely because of the inner strength that allows Ukraine to overcome all odds, despite scanty resources and support. Zelenskyy, with a deep note of resilience in his voice, said in his evening address: “Ukraine must emerge stronger from this situation, and it must become harder for Russia.”

The author, formerly with the UN, is a professor of international relations in Kyiv.