# 418. Battleground Big Picture: Power Struggles in Kyiv - The Story Behind the Government Reshuffle

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Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/battleground-5307466/418-battleground-big-picture-power-struggles-in-kyiv-the-story-behind-the-government-reshuffle.md
Podcast: [Battleground](https://stenobird.com/podcast/battleground-5307466)
Published: 2026-07-15T00:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/battlegroundpod/episodes/418-battleground-big-picture-power-struggles-in-kyiv-the-sto
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6a22b52017f169d6433fb960/e/6a568251f821a8210941fb5a/media.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/battleground-5307466/episodes/418-battleground-big-picture-power-struggles-in-kyiv-the-story-behind-the-government-reshuffle
Duration seconds: 2234

## Resource

"If Zelenskyy decides to remove Fedorov, it’s gonna be his biggest mistake during the war." Welcome to the inaugural episode of Battleground: The Big Picture , where we cut through the fog of information to bring you the unfiltered reality of global conflicts. In this episode, we sit down with Oleksiy Sorokin , the co-founder and deputy chief editor of The Kyiv Independent . Oleksiy pulls back the curtain on the immense pressures facing the free press in Ukraine, the shifting dynamics of power within the Zelenskyy administration, and the ground-level realities of combating sophisticated Russian disinformation. From the decline of oligarch rule to the critical military dependency on Western air defence, this episode offers an essential, clear-eyed look at the internal and external forces shaping the future of the region. Highlights: The Birth of The Kyiv Independent : How a team of journalists took back control of their voices after being abruptly fired from the Kyiv Post for refusing to silence their political reporting. Inside the Russian Mindset: An analysis of why domestic support for the war is shifting due to practical daily hardships—like fuel shortages and economic strain—rather than moral awakenings. The Death of Oligarch Rule: How the full-scale invasion inadvertently shattered the political and economic grip of Ukraine’s wealthy elite, consolidating unprecedented power within the government. Political Tensions & Reshuffles: The internal polling anxieties surrounding former Armed Forces Chief Zaluzhnyi and the potentially catastrophic stakes of moving the popular Defence Minister, Fedorov. The Battlefield Truth: Why long-range Ukrainian drone strikes are changing the narrative, but the critical depletion of Patriot air defence interceptors leaves major cit…

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