Zelensky sacks Ukraine's army chief
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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. We're recording this at 4 o'clock GMT on Wednesday 22nd July. Ukraine's president sacks the head of the armed forces after protests call for changes in the military leadership. France becomes the first EU state to ban social media for children. And we report from the Iranian school hit by a deadly strike on the first day of the war with the US and Israel. Also in this podcast...
In a study, people using Lily's Zepbound lost an average of 50 pounds compared to an average of 33 pounds with up to a 2.4 milligram dose of the Wegovi injection.
Weight loss rivals go to court in a dispute over advertising claims and the unusual pet abandoned on a London bus. Ukraine, like Russia, has changed its military leadership several times during the past four years of all-out war. But the Ukrainian president, Vladimir Zelensky, appears to have shot himself in the foot last week by getting rid of his popular defence minister, Mikhailo Fedorov. The 35-year-old reformist has been credited with revolutionising Ukraine's drone warfare and taking the fight to Russia. But he clashed with the head of the armed forces, Oleksandr Sirski, and President Zelensky was forced to choose between them. He ended up siding with the 60-year-old Soviet-trained general and removed Mr Fedorov from his post.
But that didn't go down well with the public. People chanting Sierski out will now, after six days of protests, President Zelensky has been forced to give in and sack General Sierski, while praising his efforts in commanding the defence of Kiev earlier in the war.
I'm grateful to Oleksandr Sirski and every one of our soldiers for Ukraine's strong frontline positions. I'm grateful to Mikhail Adrapati for having precisely the same view. Today, with Oleksandr Sirski and the Chief of General Staff, we talked about further service formats and the correct transfer of affairs.
I heard more about the changes from our diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams in Kiev. President Zelensky has clearly bowed to popular pressure to a certain extent. One of the key demands of the protesters who've been on the streets for the past week has been the removal of General Sierski. That has now happened. President Zelensky heaped praise on him, not least for defending the city of Kyiv. four years ago at the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, and he has replaced him with a new, much younger commander-in-chief, Mikhailo Drapati, a man in his mid-40s, a man thought to be a good friend of the ousted defence minister, Minister Mikhailo Fedorov. Mr Fedorov has put out a statement of his own calling the appointment of the new commander in chief a breath of fresh air.
That will be good news for President Zelensky because he will be hoping that that will take the sting out of the protests. We still don't know exactly what the impact will be because we don't know what the fate of Mr Fedorov himself is. We know that President Zelensky has offered him some kind of position. We don't know what exactly. And so I think supporters of Mr Fedorov who've been out on the streets will want to know a bit more about that. And I'm guessing that the discussions are still going on about his future. Yeah, because everyone will want to know what these personnel changes mean for Ukraine's war effort, which has been having some success. Yes. I mean, look, what we've had revealed in the past week is that there has been a breakdown in the relationship between the defence minister and the commander in chief.
And that's obviously a major issue in the midst of a war. Most protesters believe that President Zelensky chose to remove the wrong person when he removed Mr Fedorov as minister of defence.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–7:18
2
Why did President Zelensky sack Ukraine’s army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi?
7:18–15:06
3
How did public protests influence Zelensky’s decision to change military leadership?
15:06–21:14
4
What does the appointment of Mikhailo Drapati mean for Ukraine’s war strategy?
21:14–29:33
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from Global News Podcast
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