Ukraine's Zelensky fires commander-in-chief Syrsky amid military reshuffle

Also on the daily podcast: American police killings and Japanese haunted houses

Jul 22nd 2026 | 1 min read

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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has fired the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Oleksandr Syrsky. The dismissal follows days of protests over his sacking of the defence minister. Our correspondent analyses the fallout.

Also on the episode:

• America’s murder rate is falling — so why are cops killing more people?
• A shift in the Japanese taboo on living in homes where people have died

Runtime: 21 min

Guests and Host

• Shashank Joshi, Defence Editor
• Daniel Knowles, US Midwest Correspondent
• Moeka Iida, East Asia Reporter
• Rosie Blau, Co-host of The Intelligence

Topics Covered

• Fedorov, Syrsky, Zelensky, Ukraine
• Police killings, gun crime, murder
• Japan, haunted houses, jiko bukken

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Transcript

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Rosie Blau [00:00:10] Hello and welcome to The Intelligence from The Economist. I’m Rosie Blau. Today on the show, why police killings are rising in America, though murders are falling, and our correspondent visits a Japanese haunted house. First up, though. In recent weeks, Ukraine and Russia have been pounding each other with vengeance. On Sunday, Kyiv suffered one of the biggest ballistic attacks of the war, with a five-hour assault. Ukraine has responded with strikes in Crimea, and used drones to hit giant warehouses in Russian cities. But this week, the conflict came home to Ukraine in a different way, with a cabinet reshuffle that has provoked outrage among ordinary Ukrainians. It is the sign of a deep domestic political battle. The question is whether it could trigger an even more significant one.

Shashank Joshi [00:01:23] Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has just fired his top military general, Oleksandr Syrsky, this very controversial figure in the army.

Rosie Blau [00:01:34] Shashank Joshi is our outgoing defence editor.

Shashank Joshi [00:01:38] This came after days of public protests calling for Syrsky’s sacking but also calling for the return of the Ukrainian defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who was dismissed last week in a cabinet reshuffle. And I think what’s at stake here is the very ethos of the Ukrainian military and the nature of its war effort.

Rosie Blau [00:02:09] Shashank, this seems like a really weird situation. You’ve got a country at war and massive changes at the top of its military and defence structure. You’ve also got a cabinet reshuffle bringing people onto the streets. Let’s start at the beginning. What’s going on and why did Fedorov leave?

Shashank Joshi [00:02:29] So Fedorov, to take a step back, was appointed as defence minister at the very beginning of this year, and he was previously minister of digital transformation. He was a young, very well regarded minister among Ukraine’s allies. You know, I met him a...