The future of the commander-in-chief has worsened the negotiations in Ukraine

“I understand our relationship as a working relationship,” Militarni wrote in an op-ed on his website.

“If I offended anyone, Mykhailo Albertovich (Fedorov), I’m sorry.”

The general said that the military contracts, procurement and mobilization issues that are currently being aired in the press, generating slogans emblazoned on cardboard boxes carried by the opposition, are far more complicated than most people realise.

“People’s lives do not depend on slogans,” he said. It was real work that won the war, not the public drama surrounding it.

Like the ousted defense minister, the commander-in-chief avoided direct personal attacks, but the intent of much of the criticism was clear.

“Approaches should not turn into self-representation,” Federov wrote in a lengthy news conference last week.

“Behind every slide there must be documentation, budget and procedure,” the general continued. If not, the army will find frustration rather than resolve.

Sirsky’s problem, however, is that most Ukrainians, especially the younger ones, seem to believe in Federov’s analysis of what needs to change for Ukraine to win the war, not the general’s.

More than anyone else, Federov is seen by many as driving innovation in the military. Gradually improving Ukraine’s chances of hitting its numerically superior enemy.

Tetiana Makarenko, a 44-year-old law firm employee, told me at one of the protests over the weekend, “The war is changing now, so we need new ideas and a new structure.”

“It is often said that a small Soviet army cannot defeat a large Soviet army. It is time to change that thinking and start a new type of war.”

Federov’s six months at the Ministry of Defense have been associated with many military successes, for which the minister is always likely to be justified.

“We felt this feeling because we saw the dynamics,” Makarenko said. “We felt like we could do it.”

In the article, Sirsky responded to those who accused him of a lack of strategy or a failure to embrace new technology.

“The most surprising criticism I’ve heard is that they don’t want to fight drones,” he said, noting that he has dominated the creation of an unmanned system force as an independent unit of the military.