Key events
Zelenskyy fires Ukraine’s army chief and offers Fedorov ‘prominent position’
Luke Harding
in Dnipro
Some much-awaited changes in the way the Ukrainian army is organised will kick in today, after president Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi and offered a “prominent position” to the defence minister he sacked last week in a move that sparked nationwide protests.
In a late-night TV address, Zelenskyy said he was appointing Mykhailo Drapatyi, a popular and innovative general, as the new head of Ukraine’s armed forces. Drapatyi would oversee a reorganisation of the army’s command structure, Ukraine’s president said.
Zelenskyy said he was bringing Mykhailo Fedorov back into government after his removal as defence minister prompted thousands of people to demonstrate in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, in one of the biggest political crises since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
Ukraine’s president paid tribute to Syrskyi and credited him with leading the defence of Kyiv and launching a counter-invasion of Russia’s Kursk province in summer 2024, in which foreign tanks rolled on to Russian territory for the first time since the second world war.
“We have come a long way. The defence of Ukraine continues. And every soldier deserves to be treated with respect,” Zelenskyy said, adding that he was grateful to Syrskyi and to “every one of our soldiers” fighting on the frontline.
Zelenskyy will be hoping that his radical reshuffle of the army’s leadership will assuage protesters who have taken to the streets demanding Syrskyi’s removal. They had given a deadline of Friday for Fedorov to be reinstated and promised “indefinite protests” if their request was ignored.
‘We are bringing the war back home, to Russia,’ Zelenskyy says after overnight strikes
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the overnight attack on “logistics hubs involved in supplying the Russian army with drone component, navigation equipment and other gear.”
“We are, quite justly, bringing the war back home – to Russia. Peace is needed, and Ukraine has presented the Russian side with every proposal. They must be forced to turn to diplomacy.”
Morning summary: But can they do it on a Wednesday morning in Brussels?
Jakub Krupa
EU ambassadors are meeting in Brussels today in a bid to sign off on the 21st package of sanctions against Russia after previous attempts ended with no success.
Lithuania’s ambassador to the EU, Nerijus Aleksiejūnas, told the Lithuanian media that he was sensing a growing fatigue with the sanctions amid concerns that some measures could actually pose difficult questions for some of the member states.
“The argument heard most often is that sanctions should not harm European countries and their economies compared with Russia,” he said, as reported by LRT.
As a result, the EU dropped proposed restrictions on Russia’s fishing sectors, a proposed ban on Russian soldiers entering Europe (as France, Italy, and Spain issued the highest number of visas to Russian citizens last year, LRT said), and on sanctions against Russian Orthodox patriarch Kirill. Greece continues to oppose proposed restrictions on Russian LNG supplies.
It’s far from given whether the ambassadors will be able to sign off on the 21st package today, before they break for summer holidays. I will keep an eye on this. The meeting starts 10am local time (9am UK).
In the meantime, Ukraine continues long-range strikes inside Russia as it hit more warehouses of Russia’s largest online retailer, Wildberries, overnight. Eight people were reportedly injured.
Elsewhere, I will keep an eye on developments across Europe for you, as we are expecting updates from France, Hungary, and Italy, among others.
It’s Wednesday, 22 July 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
