British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has arrived in Kyiv for a farewell visit. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
A protest is taking place in Kyiv this morning against Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his bizarre decision to fire Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. Around 1,000 people, maybe more, have gathered in the summer sunshine right under Zelenskyy's presidential office. The Guardian's Luke Harding spoke to them about this decision.
Protesters say they are furious and bewildered. They say Fedorov represents openness, innovation and transparency, he has been very successful, and that old Soviet-style forces have got rid of him. They believe this is about two things.
One is a conflict with Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, whom they allege is involved in, or whose generals are involved in, various corruption schemes. People are now saying "Syrskyi out, keep Fedorov."
The other is personal rivalry: Fedorov is very popular, he is 35, and is regarded by some as a future presidential leader. Zelenskyy got rid of him for blatant political reasons, at least that's the critique.
There are posters saying "for what?", "Syrskyi out", and so on. The crowd is young. This is only the second big demonstration against Zelenskyy since the full-scale invasion, right on his doorstep.
One final thing: many people say it's embarrassing for Starmer, and that Starmer must raise the Fedorov issue with Zelenskyy if he wants to become NATO secretary general in the future.