Thousands rally in the Ukrainian capital and other cities to protest the ousting of Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.
One of the ship attacks killed two Ukrainians on board, they said.
The exit of 35-year-old Fedorov, who sought to modernise the ministry and has been partly credited with Ukraine’s recent military successes, has exposed a bitter divide within Ukraine’s military establishment.
Zelenskyy on Thursday named Yevgeniy Khmara – head of Ukraine’s SBU security service – as acting defence minister, saying he has “unprecedented experience with technological combat operations”.
Zelenskyy has since tapped former Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko to chair Ukraine’s defence and security council.
Thousands rally in the Ukrainian capital and other cities to protest the ousting of Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.
Russian and Ukrainian air attacks killed 10 people on both sides of the border as Ukrainians took to the streets in several cities to protest for a second day against the removal of the defence minister.
Russian drones struck port infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern city of Mykolaiv on Friday, damaging three foreign-registered vessels, according to local prosecutors. One of the ship attacks killed two Ukrainians on board, they said.
Earlier, in the Black Sea port city of Odesa, two people were killed and eight wounded when a Russian missile hit a residential building, said Deputy Mayor Oleksandr Filatov.
“Among those killed was a woman who was walking in a park with children at the time of the attack. The children survived and are receiving the necessary assistance,” emergency services said.
Residential buildings, a religious institution, a pre-school facility, vehicles and other civilian infrastructure were damaged in the bombardment, Filatov said.
A Russian drone attack hit a bus killing one person and injuring eight others in the Ukrainian city of Marhanets, according to the head of the local military administration.
In the front line city of Kherson, a Russian attack killed a 70-year-old woman and wounded five others, all elderly, said the city’s military administration.
In one of the Russian-occupied parts of the Kherson region, two people were killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on a motorway, according to the Moscow-appointed governor there, Vladimir Vasilenko.
In Russia itself, a man was killed after a drone hit his car in the Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine, the regional government said.
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Another person was killed in a Ukrainian attack on Gorlivka, a town in eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia, said the Moscow-installed governor Ivan Prikhodko.
The latest attacks came as domestic tensions continued to flare in Ukraine over the controversial ousting of Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as part of a cabinet reshuffle.
The exit of 35-year-old Fedorov, who sought to modernise the ministry and has been partly credited with Ukraine’s recent military successes, has exposed a bitter divide within Ukraine’s military establishment.
After being forced to resign, Fedorov harshly criticised military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, with whom he has been in dispute, and questioned whether Ukraine could defeat Russia with him in charge of the army.
‘Listen to the people’
Protesters rallied for a second day in Kyiv on Friday, with some congregating outside Zelenskyy’s office demanding he reappoint Fedorov.
The protests in the capital drew thousands of people, reported AFP.
Pro-Fedorov supporters also rallied in the cities of Kharkiv, Ternopil, Mykolaiv, Chernivtsi and Lutsk, reported Ukraine’s Ukrinform news agency.
“I truly believe and hope that the authorities will, after all, listen to the people – that it will heed the people’s demands,” Valeriia Balenko, a 29-year-old protester who rallied outside Zelenskyy’s office, was quoted by Reuters.
“Because this is what the people want, for the sake of our soldiers’ lives and for the sake of the civilians who live under air attacks every day,” said Balenko.
Zelenskyy on Thursday named Yevgeniy Khmara – head of Ukraine’s SBU security service – as acting defence minister, saying he has “unprecedented experience with technological combat operations”.
Zelenskyy has since tapped former Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko to chair Ukraine’s defence and security council.
