Ukrainians take to the streets over defense minister’s firing
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision to remove Mykhailo Fedorov on Wednesday has not gone down well with the Ukrainian public. Thousands took to the streets of Kyiv and other cities today to demand that he be reinstated. Fedorov – who only took the job six months ago – was seen as an effective wartime leader, particularly for championing the use of drones to counter Russia. So why did Zelensky fire Fedorov? There was reportedly a dispute between the ousted defense minister and Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi. But it could also be because the president felt politically threatened by Fedorov. It wouldn’t be the first time that Zelensky made such a move: in 2024, he reassigned then-army chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi – who is rumored to have presidential ambitions – to be ambassador to the United Kingdom, forcing him to roughly 1,500 miles away from Kyiv.
Bangladesh’s wall with Myanmar could worsen humanitarian crisis
Bangladesh announced plans recently to build a wall along much of its border with Myanmar. The move comes as the Arakan Army, a rebel group battling Myanmar’s military junta in the country’s long-running civil war, has tightened its control over Rakhine state, which borders Bangladesh and is where much of Myanmar’s remaining Rohingya population lives. Bangladeshi officials fear the conflict could trigger a new wave of refugees seeking safety across the border, prompting efforts to strengthen border security before another mass exodus unfolds. Often described by the UN as “the most persecuted minority in the world,” more than one million Rohingya now live in Bangladesh after fleeing a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar in 2017. Most of them reside in the world’s largest refugee camp just over the border – if another wave of violence happens under the Arakan Army, the Rohingya could be left with nowhere to go.
To air, or not to air?
US President Donald Trump is expected to deliver a primetime address tonight in which he’s reportedly pitching his SAVE America Act, a voter ID law currently stalled in Congress. He’s also likely to revisit claims of fraud in the 2020 race. The 9 pm speech creates a conundrum for the networks: do you air a speech that may include false claims about 2020, even if it’s by the president? Trump is also expected to argue China attempted to influence the 2020 election. It’s unclear which broadcasters will carry it, but they’ve been divided over presidents’ speeches before. In 2022, a number of networks deemed Joe Biden’s speech warning about threats to democracy too partisan for live coverage. But this time, networks will have to face an administration that’s been confrontational toward the media – the FCC, for example, threatened to revoke the licenses of certain networks for their coverage of the war in Iran.
