Poroshenko and Pashinsky circle speaks out against Fedorov and in defense of Syrsky

Supporters of European Solidarity party leader Petro Poroshenko and former member of parliament Serhiy Pashinsky, who is close to him, have publicly spoken out against dismissed defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov and come to the defense of Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky, whose dismissal is being lobbied for by the former defense minister and his support group.

People from Poroshenko’s circle are posting the relevant statements on their social media accounts.

Former member of parliament and servicewoman Tetyana Chornovol said she would not join the “lament” over Fedorov. According to her, under his tenure “the most important thing the army requires — an assessment of professionalism — never happened.” Chornovol noted that despite five years of continuous frontline service and combining the duties of a platoon commander with work as an FPV pilot, she continues to receive a salary of around 26,000 hryvnias, while combat pay has been cut by approximately 20%. She called the contract service reform a “complete failure” and accused the Defense Ministry leadership of relying on “low-skilled labor in the military.”

Military man and volunteer Myroslav Hai spoke in defense of Syrsky, stating that Ukrainian society is systematically ungrateful toward its commanders-in-chief. He recalled the dismissals of Viktor Muzhenko, Ruslan Khomchak, and Valery Zaluzhny, calling them humiliating, and added that “someday Syrsky will be replaced too.” In his view, the problem lies not with the commanders-in-chief but with society’s attitude toward the army.

“When the war ends… every other veteran will hear the phrase: ‘We didn’t send you there,'” Hai wrote.

Member of the public anti-corruption council under the Defense Ministry Dana Yarovaya also criticized the campaign in support of Fedorov. She said she was alarmed by “how quickly we have again started dividing the country into friends and enemies and ‘fashioning ourselves a new idol.'” Yarovaya drew attention to posts claiming that Fedorov would be the next president and compared the situation to the 2019 presidential election, which Zelensky won.

“73% were also certain they had found a messiah,” Yarovaya wrote, calling on people to judge politicians by their actions and actual achievements rather than create a personality cult.

As reported in a separate article, the position of the Poroshenko and Pashinsky groups against Fedorov is explained by two reasons. The first is that they back former Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhny as a future president, and Fedorov could pose competition to him. The second is that Pashinsky has a conflict with Fedorov and structures close to him, stemming from the distribution of budget funds for defense procurement. It was also previously reported that the struggle over the allocation of budget flows is one of the reasons for Fedorov’s resignation.