Veteran and lead figure in pro-Fedorov protests accuses 'people close to Syrskyi' of intimidation

A former combat medic and one of the lead figures in this week's protests against the dismissal of Mykhailo Fedorov as defense minister believes people "close to (Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr) Syrskyi" are "trying to intimidate me in order to stop the protests," he told the Kyiv Independent on July 17.

Dmytro Koziatynskyi, who formerly served in the Da Vinci Wolves battalion, urged people to take to the streets on July 16 to "show the president that we are against constant reshuffles in the government and replacing effective ministers with convenient opportunists."

President Volodymyr Zelensky's dismissal of Fedorov as defense minister on July 15 was met with outrage across Ukrainian society, largely due to a long list of his achievements during his productive, albeit short, six-month tenure.

Much of the anger over Fedorov's dismissal has turned against Syrskyi since it emerged Zelensky's decision stemmed from tensions between the then-defense minister and commander-in-chief.

Koziatynskyi joined approximately 1,000-2,000 people who gathered in Kyiv on the morning of July 16 to protest his dismissal, some of whom were soldiers and veterans who had hoped Fedorov would help resolve Ukraine's long-standing military issues, from mobilization to the severe lack of manpower.

Koziatynskyi’s former commander, Alina Mykhailova, claimed on July 17 that representatives of the Ukrainian military had contacted her for information about Koziatynskyi, who served as a combat medic under her command.

"'Repression’ in the army in 2026 is when you receive an urgent call from the Unmanned Systems Forces Command demanding to know which unit a man serves in because he is posting online about protests and urging people to join,” Mykhailova wrote in a post on social media.

"I really want civilians, veterans, and the media to understand what it really costs a serving military to support such actions," she added.

Koziatynskyi, a well-known activist who was also a key figure behind the NABU protests in July 2025, told the Kyiv Independent he believed the incident was intimidation orchestrated against him because there is a "real chance that Syrskyi will finally be removed from army command."

"I know that my military battalion command received requests about my whereabouts from the higher chain-of-command even though I have been a civilian for over a year already," Koziatynskyi said.

The head of the Unmanned Systems Forces Command, Robert Brovdi, addressed the claims that someone under his command was behind trying to obtain information about Koziatynskyi.

"The (Unmanned Systems Forces) does not tolerate any repression by the military, just like other offenses,” Brovdi wrote in a post on social media.

"Therefore, I will not comment on the absurdity," Brovdi said, promising to investigate which member of the Unmanned Systems Forces was attempting to gather information about Koziatynskyi.

Koziatynskyi and Mykhailova’s comments come as increasing evidence emerges of elements of the Ukrainian military loyal to Syrskyi attempting to exert pressure on current and former members of the army who have publicly supported Fedorov.

"They call commanders, forcing them to pressure those who supported Fedorov," Serhiy Gnezdilov, a serviceman with the 56th Motorized Brigade claimed in a post on Facebook.

"They contacted the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine)," Gnezdilov continued, claiming that other members of the military had already had "problems because they attended the rally."

The attempts to silence the Ukrainian military’s ability will not work, according to Mykhailova.

"The Ukrainian military is not just a man in uniform," she wrote. He is first of all, a citizen who took up arms to defend freedom. And it would be strange if, defending freedom for all, he himself did not have the right to it."