Apple And DOJ In “Early Settlement Talks” Over 2024 Antitrust Lawsuit
Apple and the U.S. Department of Justice are reportedly in early discussions to settle the government’s 2024 antitrust lawsuit against the iPhone maker, though no agreement has been reached and no trial date has been set, Bloomberg reported today.
Apple has made multiple settlement offers this year in an effort to resolve the case, but negotiations remain ongoing and could still fall apart. Neither Apple nor the DOJ commented.
The lawsuit, originally filed under the Biden administration by the Justice Department along with 19 states and the District of Columbia, accuses Apple of illegally maintaining a monopoly in the smartphone market by making it harder for competing products and services to gain traction.
Regulators pointed to restrictions involving messaging apps, smartwatches, digital wallets, cloud gaming services, and so-called “super apps,” arguing the company’s practices harmed developers, competitors, and consumers. Apple lost its attempt to dismiss the case in June 2025.
Since the lawsuit was filed, Apple has already made several changes that address parts of the government’s complaint. The company now supports RCS messaging, allows cloud gaming apps on the App Store, has opened the iPhone’s NFC payment chip to third-party developers, and introduced a framework for mini apps. Apple still does not allow the Apple Watch to work with Android devices, though it has added features that improve compatibility between iPhones and non-Apple smartwatches.
The report also comes as the Trump Justice Department has shown a greater willingness to settle antitrust cases inherited from the previous administration, arguing negotiated agreements can deliver faster consumer benefits while avoiding years of costly litigation. It remains unclear whether the state attorneys general involved in the lawsuit are participating in the settlement talks.
While the Biden Justice Department launched a series of aggressive cases against Big Tech, including lawsuits targeting Apple, Google, Amazon and Meta Platforms, Trump’s DOJ has shown a greater willingness to resolve inherited cases through negotiated settlements rather than years of courtroom battles.
That doesn’t necessarily mean antitrust scrutiny is disappearing, but it does suggest the administration may be more focused on securing practical concessions from technology companies than pursuing lengthy, high-profile litigation.
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Thursday launched a joint website featuring an interactive map of federal enforcement actions aimed at election security, transparency, and integrity.
“Excited to launch the joint @TheJusticeDept @DHSgov election integrity website, an interactive map showing what actions the federal government is taking to improve election security, transparency, and integrity for all Americans! Updated regularly!” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon announced on X on July 16.
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington on Sept. 29, 2025. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
The website displays a nationwide map of states and the District of Columbia, with users able to click any jurisdiction to view linked enforcement records.
The page lists Justice Department actions targeting states that fail to produce voter registration rolls.
The Civil Rights Division said the effort was to protect the right to vote by ensuring accurate rolls and removing ineligible voters.
The page urges the public to “Get involved and learn more about the division’s election-integrity enforcement actions” and to “Support Election Integrity: Help the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security protect the vote by reporting concerns and staying informed.”
The launch comes as the division continues to press states for full voter registration lists under federal laws, including the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1960. Officials have described clean rolls as essential so that every eligible citizen’s vote counts equally and without dilution.
The interactive map and linked press releases centralize the volume of recent litigation and immigration-related arrests in one place. The site will be updated regularly as additional actions are taken.
Recent Justice Department filings listed include February 2026 lawsuits against five additional states for failure to produce voter rolls; January 2026 actions targeting Virginia, Arizona, and Connecticut; and multiple 2025 cases.
DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) entries detail arrests of noncitizens who allegedly voted in federal elections, including a New Jersey case and an Australian national charged with voting in multiple elections, along with a Mexican national’s guilty plea for falsely claiming U.S. citizenship.
The site opens with a quote from President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14248, issued March 25, 2025: “Free, fair, and honest elections unmarred by fraud, errors, or suspicion are fundamental to maintaining our constitutional Republic.”
The executive order highlights that the United States does not enforce basic and necessary election protections, noting that countries like India and Brazil tie voter identification to biometric databases, whereas the United States relies on self-attestation for citizenship.
HSBC Upgrades Apple To Buy, Sees “AI Boost” Sparking Device-Upgrade Cycle
Days after KeyBanc analysts Brandon Nispel and John Vinh downgraded Apple over concerns that soaring memory chip costs and rising iPad, Mac, and iPhone prices could spark a growth slowdown, HSBC analysts took the opposite view, upgrading the stock to a “Buy” rating to end the week.
HSBC analyst Nicolas Cote-Colisson upgraded Apple to “Buy” from “Hold” on Friday morning and raised his price target to $366 from $260, telling clients that an “AI boost comes at the right moment” and could unleash a major device-upgrade cycle.
Cote-Colisson explained:
A new cycle ahead.
Thus far, we had retained a cautious approach on Apple with a Hold rating.
We had preferred other segments of the AI value chain, more prompt to exploit the bottlenecks created by the high demand in computing power, including hyperscalers or memory makers.
We think Apple is now at an operational turning point: not only can the company stay away from the (too) high capex debate (it only invests 2.5% of its 2026e sales vs 39% for hyperscalers, see page 10), we think it is also well placed to leverage its 2.5bn installed device base with its forthcoming revamped Apple Intelligence.
This AI boost comes at the right moment, when we think Apple has one of its most innovative product pipelines in place.
Cote-Colisson pointed out that Apple is at an “inflection point” as it prepares to deploy an agentic version of Siri capable of accessing information across applications and executing more complex tasks:
New AI features coming this year represent a key catalyst for an acceleration in Apple’s hardware and Services revenue
Recent price hikes show confidence from Apple that pricing power can limit the negative impact of memory pricing on margin
HSBC expects the AI overhaul to coincide with a strong product pipeline that includes the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, a book-style foldable iPhone, an iPhone Air, a 20th-anniversary model and eventually AI-powered smart glasses. The combination could accelerate upgrades across Apple’s installed base of more than 2.5 billion active devices, particularly among owners of the iPhone 15 and 16.
Putting this all together, the analyst expects the AI overhaul and robust pipeline to begin the “start of a fundamental shift that will force a faster hardware refresh across the 2.5bn+ active device installed base.”
Cote-Colisson also raised Apple’s 2027 and 2028 revenue estimates by 7% to 9%, including an 11% to 13% increase in his iPhone forecasts. He expects iPhone sales to rise 11.6% in fiscal 2027, compared with the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 8.3%. He also lifted his 2027 Services revenue forecast by 5.4%.
His fiscal 2027 earnings-per-share estimate increased about 8% to $10.26, or 7.5% above consensus. Cote-Colisson expects EPS growth of roughly 16% that year, compared with a 12% median among Apple’s peers.
Cote-Colisson pointed out that rising memory prices remain a significant risk: “Downside risks include competition from AI labs introducing new form factors that could challenge smartphones and a longer-than-expected global memory chip shortage compressing margins, although we believe Apple can command a significant degree of pricing power.”
Earlier in the week, KeyBanc analysts Brandon Nispel and John Vinh downgraded Apple from “Sector Weight” to “Underweight” amid fears that rising device prices due to the memory crunch will hit sales in the coming quarters.
In mid-June, Apple CEO Tim Cook told the WSJ in an exclusive interview that price hikes were “unavoidable” because of the memory chip crunch.
Latest Bloomberg data shows 36 “Buy” ratings, 18 “Neutral” ratings, and 4 “Sell” ratings on the stock, with an average 12-month price target of $322.
Meta Eyes $10 Billion Deal To Lease AI Computing Power To Anthropic
Meta is standing up a cloud business to sell excess computing capacity from its massive data-center buildout, as we detailed earlier this month. The new business line would put Meta in direct competition with industry leaders such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.
Meta is in talks to rent computing power from its AI data centers to Anthropic in a deal that could be worth as much as USD 10bln over two years: NYT
The New York Times reported that Meta is considering selling excess computing capacity to Anthropic in a deal that could be worth up to $10 billion over the next two years.
Here’s more color from NYT:
Meta is in talks to rent computing power from its artificial intelligence data centers to Anthropic in a deal that could be worth as much as $10 billion over two years, three people with knowledge of the discussions said, a potential step toward a new A.I. business for the social networking company.
Anthropic proposed the deal in June and Meta is considering it, said the people, who were not authorized to discuss confidential conversations. While the specifics were in flux, Anthropic would pay Meta in monthly increments over the two-year period, the people said. The companies would be able to opt out of any agreement early, they added.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently acknowledged that AI agent development over the past four months “hasn’t accelerated in the way we expected.”
The company has also said it may build more data centers than it needs based on the number of customers using its AI products. Selling excess computing power to companies such as Anthropic would open a new revenue stream and potentially alleviate investor concerns following Meta’s multiyear data-center buildout spree.
It’s not just Meta. Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which acquired his AI startup xAI earlier this year, has been renting massive amounts of computing capacity from its Memphis data centers to Anthropic PBC. That strategy could help xAI generate more than $50 billion in revenue by 2028 and $100 billion by 2030.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth offered support for U.S. Navy Blue Angels pilots on Thursday after a review of a low-altitude jet maneuver over Pensacola Beach, Florida, the day before.
Dramatic video shows the U.S. Navy Blue Angels making a low-altitude flyover above Pensacola Beach, Florida, on Wednesday. Navy officials confirmed in a statement that Blue Angels leadership is “reviewing the circumstances surrounding the maneuver and conducting a thorough safety… pic.twitter.com/ZUa1ryk4X8
Video posted online showed one of the demonstration jets flying unusually close to the ground during an arrival maneuver on Wednesday.
The jet kicked up sand and beach items among spectators at a “Breakfast with the Blues” event. Children were seen covering their ears with their heads bowed.
The maneuver occurred during events tied to the squadron’s 80th anniversary.
“The flyovers will continue until morale improves,” Hegseth posted on X.
The Blue Angels said it is conducting a review of the maneuver.
“The safety of our hometown community, spectators, and our pilots is our highest priority. Team leadership is reviewing the circumstances surrounding the maneuver and conducting a thorough safety review to ensure all operations adhere to strict Navy and FAA safety standards,” the squadron said in a statement.
Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said later Thursday that a flight debrief had been completed and there would be no reprimands.
“No reprimands. No firings. No problem. That’s the sound of Freedom,” Cao wrote on X. “Semper fi and Hooyah.”
Wednesday’s incident took place during preparations for the Pensacola Beach Air Show. The show features expanded performances this year for the anniversaries. Organizers predicted large crowds.
No injuries were reported. One spectator told local media she had been in attendance at the air show for 10 years and never witnessed such a pass. She said she thought the jet might hit them but called the experience amazing.
This was at least the third time in recent months that Hegseth supported pilots after aerial maneuvers that drew scrutiny over safety concerns. The Pentagon lifted suspensions of helicopter pilots who flew low over the coast of South Carolina. In March, Hegseth said Army pilots would not be punished after flying attack helicopters near singer Kid Rock’s house.
Some lawmakers criticized the maneuver.
“Aviation safety rules are written in blood. Glamorizing and excusing reckless behavior like this will only lead to more, until we reach the point where a horrific tragedy occurs because of brazen, careless rhetoric like this,” Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) said on X.
The Blue Angels were created in 1946 and perform precision maneuvers at air shows and other events. Its home base is located in Pensacola.
Military aviation is closely regulated. Low-altitude flying limits reaction time for pilots. Blue Angels operations follow strict parameters on minimum altitudes.
The review followed standard Navy procedures for deviations from flight profiles. Past investigations into demonstration squadron incidents have examined precision requirements.
The Blue Angels squadron is made up of pilots and supporting personnel who perform for millions of spectators annually. The team remains set to continue its demonstrations.
Elon Musk has acquired a power company based in Jacksonville, Fla., paying $1 billion for the mobile gas-turbine provider as a possible solution to data center energy needs.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lists Musk as the acquiring party, with New APR Energy, LLC listed as the acquired entity.
Neither party issued public statements on the deal that closed May 14. Local business news outlet Jacksonville Daily Record first reported on the news in June before it gained national media attention in recent days.
The potential cost of the deal was found in a separate filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in which Technologies Group reported selling its 5 percent non-voting stake in New APR Energy in a May 28 SEC report.
Duos said its sale generated $50.4 million in net proceeds, which implies the Musk deal was worth at least $1 billion.
Musk continues to invest in artificial intelligence (AI) development with the research company he founded, xAI, and its chatbot Grok.
His xAI company runs the Colossus data center in Tennessee, a $20 billion facility near a power plant site, where he has had to rent turbine units as he waits for grid power to the site.
New APR Energy owns and maintains a fleet of gas turbines with more than 1 gigawatt of power generation capacity, according to a statement from the company in January, when it expanded capacity.
The company has been delivering power to clients for more than 20 years, deploying its fleets “in as little as 30 to 90 days,” the statement said.
Grok is a generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) chatbot developed by xAI, based on a large language model (LLM). It was developed at the initiative of Elon Musk in response to the rise of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Riccardo Milani/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
Musk’s purchase of the Florida company represents his second investment in the energy sector. In 2006, Musk helped fund SolarCity, a company founded by his cousins, Peter and Lyndon Rive, which grew to be the largest residential solar installer in the United States.
Tesla bought SolarCity in an all-stock deal worth about $2.6 billion in 2016 and turned it into Tesla Energy.
Tech expert and podcaster Aakash Gupta said Musk’s latest transaction exposed the AI industry’s current problems.
“What [Musk] bought tells you where the real bottleneck in AI is,” Gupta said in a July 16 post on X.
New APR Energy operates a fleet of mobile gas and diesel turbines with over 1 gigawatt of generation capacity—enough to power 750,000 homes at once.
The fleet, which was built for disaster response, arrives on trucks and can be delivered, installed, and commissioned in a month.
The fast set-up time makes sense for Musk, who has already lived through delays with xAI’s first Memphis plant, Gupta said.
“Environmental groups sued. The [Justice Department] intervened to keep the turbines running. He was renting the most important input to his most important company,” Gupta said. “So he bought the landlord. … Every AI lab can buy the same chips. Only one of them now owns a power plant fleet that ships by truck.”
New APR Energy and Tesla did not return requests for comments about the purchase by publication time.
US Sends Dozens More Refueling Planes To Israel Amid Widening Iran War, Oil Climbs
Update(12:25ET): Oil prices are climbing on fresh reports Friday that President Trump is ready to continue escalating and expanding strikes on the Islamic Republic, after a Situation Room briefing this week where the Commander-in-Chief was presented with various options. It bears repeating that the White House in the opening days of Operation Epic Fury promised the American public a fast and hasty, limited military engagement – but this is where we are four months later…
“The Trump administration notified Israel it is sending dozens more refueling planes to the country ahead of a potential expansion of military operations against Iran, three U.S. and Israeli officials said,” reports Axios. “After he was presented with several new military plans in a Situation Room meeting Tuesday, President Trump is considering a massive offensive in Iran that would be wider in scope than the current strikes around the Strait of Hormuz.” This is but the latest signal that the ceasefire and negotiations are fully dead, and the potential for runaway escalation is bigger than ever:
OIL RISES TO SESSION HIGHS, BRENT TRADES ABOVE $87/BBL
US YIELDS RISE TO DAY’S HIGH ON REPORTS OF US-IRAN ESCALATION
US TO SEND DOZENS MORE REFUELING PLANES: AXIOS
* * *
Iran has on Friday warned of a “more crushing” retaliation following the conclusion of last night’s sixth consecutive day of US attacks, targeting military targets and logistics infrastructure, but also civilian sites connected to the power grid. By all accounts this current wave goes beyond the prior strikes in size and scope compared to the past several days.
Iranian state media has reported that eight people were killed from the overnight attacks, and that several bridges had been attacked overnight.
The country is feeling the strain under what is now nearly a week of constant US heavy attacks. This is being seen in that Iran’s energy ministry has urgently called on citizens to reduce electricity use after the power grid came under strain following US strikes on energy infrastructure in the south.
In a statement on Friday, the ministry said those areas in the south “are currently experiencing extreme heat and attacks on power infrastructure.” But as Al Jazeeranotes, “The ministry however did not elaborate on whether it was power plants, transmission lines or other equipment that had been attacked.” According to more details:
Iran’s Energy Ministry urged citizens to reduce electricity consumption to help stabilize power supply in the country’s southern provinces following US strikes on energy facilities, citing extreme heat and infrastructure damage, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported Friday.
The ministry asked subscribers to turn off air conditioners for one hour during peak consumption periods to help ensure a more stable electricity supply to the affected provinces, ISNA said.
Report: Hormuz Strait transit falls to three week low–
Hormuz traffic reaches three week low
MarineTraffic data indicate confirmed crossings through the monitored Strait of Hormuz zone fell to eight on 16 July, down from 15 a day earlier and marking a three week low. Seven of the eight transits followed the Iranian route, with no… pic.twitter.com/mEXVxsx40d
Friday was the first time that Iran’s government acknowledged American “attacks on power infrastructure” during the campaign, which comes after Trump’s prior warning to go after key civilian infrastructure.
And on the bridges: “Iranian media reported that five bridges were hit in the latest round of US strikes, as well as the train station in coastal Bandar Khamir and Iranshahr Airport in southeastern Iran,” Reuters reports. An airport has also reportedly been attacked.
Iran has warned of an “infrastructure for infrastructure” tit-for-tat:
Kuwait says that one of the country’s power and water desalinations plans suffered “severe damage” after an Iranian attack.
There are signs of renewed attacks on rail as well, per NBC:
A railway junction station just west of Bandar Abbas was also hit, the state-owned IRIB news agency said. The highway and railway bridge strikes appeared aimed at cutting off Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main port, from roads leading toward Tehran, the capital.
While other routes still are open, the U.S. strikes could expand further, potentially disrupting both the movement of military materiel and goods needed for Iran’s 90 million people.
Regional Arab states which host American bases say they were busy overnight intercepting missiles and drones sent from Iran, including Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and with reports of projectiles inbound even in Syria.
The IRGC announced Friday that it carried out an attack on the US Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, asserting that it destroyed a long-range radar system and several US aerial refueling aircraft.
Iran’s Chabahar port control tower COLLAPSES after more than a week of US strikes — Pete Hegseth boasts of destruction in X photo
Iranian FM Araghchi calls the attacks one of many US ‘war crimes’ committed over the past week pic.twitter.com/lDBz6ufJ5j
Its Aerospace Force described that carried out a “surprise and powerful” attack on Al Udeid Air Base, claiming to have taken out a long-range radar system along with the refueling aircraft parked there.
Per IRIB news agency, the elite Iranian force stated, “The American enemy and the hosts of its bases in the region should know that crossing red lines and attacking people and civilian infrastructure will have a very severe and miserable price. If the enemy continues this trend, more crushing responses are on the way; responses that will remain in the history of battles.”
The IRGC further warned that American forces will “pay a heavy price” for what it called crossing “red lines” and targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure. Tehran has not backed off its assertion of ‘control’ over the Strait of Hormuz – also calling this its red line.
The day or evening prior saw US Marines having conducted “a verification boarding” of a tanker in the Gulf of Oman – which the Pentagon characterized as part of operations enforcing the new naval blockade of Iranian ports.
The New York Times on July 15 asked a court to toss out grand jury subpoenas of three of its reporters who published a story about the new Air Force One plane that Qatar gifted to President Donald Trump.
The paper published the story earlier this month alleging the new plane lacked some defensive features of the older Air Force One aircraft, which the White House denied. That led Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to issue subpoenas to find out where the reporters were getting their information.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, during his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, said the subpoenas were issued to find out who leaked information to the NY Times. Justice Department rules required him to authorize the subpoenas.
“We’re not targeting reporters,” Blanche told Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), later adding, “The question we want to ask them is who provided them with classified national security information.”
David McCraw, senior vice president and deputy general counsel of The NY Times, said the subpoenas were “brought in bad faith to punish The Times for its coverage.”
“We are going to court to defend our journalists’ rights to report freely on the administration and to provide the public with stories that matter,” McCraw said.
Motions to quash a subpoena are usually sealed. McCraw has asked the court to make the contents of his motion public, arguing that people have a right to know about the case.
Like Blanche, Clayton is under congressional scrutiny this week as he looks to the Senate to confirm him as Director of National Intelligence. He hopes to replace Bill Pulte, who is filling in for Tulsi Gabbard. She stepped down from the role earlier this year to be with her husband, who she revealed has cancer.
Clayton told Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) that he did not want to publicly go into details about the subpoenas—or who asked that they be issued.
But he said that he was “absolutely committed to” respect for the First Amendment and journalists. He added that he and his team “followed the processes that we’re required to follow.”
First Amendment advocacy groups like the National Press Club have asked the Justice Department to withdraw the subpoenas.
“A free and independent press serves the people, not the government,” the organization’s president, Mark Schoeff Jr., said in a statement.
“The greatest danger isn’t the subpoena itself. It’s the message it sends. It tells sources to stay silent. It tells whistleblowers to think twice.”
Days after subpoenas were issued to the New York Times journalists, War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on July 13 that the War Department and the Department of Justice launched a joint task force to investigate and prosecute anyone involved in leaking sensitive information to the media.
“Access to confidential and secret information is a sacred trust,” Hegseth said in a video posted on X.
“And those who betray that trust will be met with the full force of the law.”
Hegseth did not mention the past week’s incident but spoke in general about threats that leaks pose to national security and the U.S. military.
“The unauthorized disclosure of War Department information has the very real potential to cause exceptionally grave damage to our national security and the operational integrity of our armed forces,” Hegseth said.
IRGC Targets US Command Center In Syria In Unprecedented Attack
Iran’s large-scale ‘retaliation’ on US bases and Gulf states overnight included a rare first if confirmed. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it conducted a missile or drone attack on an American special operations command center at al-Tanf in Syria on Friday.
The action came after the US bombed Iran for a sixth consecutive night, and while Iranian targets have on several occasions reached into Jordan, it is unprecedented that the Iranians take active aim at sites within Syria.
The IRGC stated the attack was in retaliation for the killing of Iranian soldiers in Iranshahr, in southern Iran.
While the hit on Syria was reported in Reuters based on state media claims, the alleged Tanf strike hasn’t been independently verified:
A Syrian military source told Reuters that Iran carried out an attack near al-Tanf, but it had not hit the base itself. There were no casualties or material damage, the source added.
The episode is the first reported attack on Syria since the US-Israeli war on Iran began in late February.
And more: “The IRGC statement claimed that a radar system, multiple helicopters, and several US personnel were destroyed in the strike. Reuters reported that it has not yet been able to independently verify these claims.”
While it is unprecedented or at least unusual for US bases in Syria to come under direct attack by Iran, Tanf base has on multiple occasions come under attack from Iran-aligned Iraqi paramilitaries, and other hostile actors both within Syria and Iraq.
US troops had long operated out of Tanf to pressure the Assad government as part of the long-running US-backed regime change project.
The US primarily trained the Syrian Free Army (FSA) in that remote desert area – which was an umbrella group of various factions, likely among them jihadists, armed and funded by Washington.
But when Assad was finally ousted in December 2024, replaced by an Al-Qaeda group founder (Jolani/Sharaa), this also put Iranian forces in rapid retreat from the country after an over decade-long proxy war.
Syria’s new AQ-linked government has been trying to impress its backers by claiming to bust up Iran-Hezbollah axis arms shipments:
🇸🇾🇮🇷🇱🇧 Here’s footage of the massive weapons cache that was hidden inside an oil tanker by Iran and bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Until Syria intercepted it along the way.
Inside were hundreds of drones, missiles, and components…
Iran, alongside Russia, had been a close military supporter of the Syrian army, but the Syrian government’s collapse – along with the weaking of Hezbollah with the recent Israeli assassination of much of its leadership in Lebanon, caused most Russian and Iranian troops into a hasty and forced withdrawal.
Zelensky’s Cabinet Reshuffle Backfiring As He Names New Defense Minister
Amid a continuing status of martial law in Ukraine, one European headline underscores that President Zelensky’s significant cabinet and defense ministry reshuffling has ‘backfired’.
Public outrage and rare protests have ensued in the capital and across various cities after he sacked popular Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who many Ukrainians see as having turned the tide of the war with Russia, implementing an ambitious tech-focused drone strategy.
Zelensky has now confirmed the dismissal by appointing Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) chief Yevhen Khmara as acting defense minister.
“Once the necessary legal procedures are completed, I will ask lawmakers to support Yevhen Khmara’s appointment as defense minister,” Zelensky announced.
None of this is being received very well among the public, also days after the forced resignation of Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, who was merely six months into the job:
The removal of Svyrydenko and swift appointment of Sergii Koretskyi as Ukraine’s new prime minister barely registered in the public debate, but there was uproar around the defence portfolio.
On Thursday lawmakers approved almost an entirely new wartime cabinet and Koretskyi’s nomination – a move largely seen as logical given his track record as chief executive of state energy giant Naftogaz and his crisis‑management roles at Ukrnafta and Ukrtatnafta.
Inside parliament, Koretskyi vowed to focus on defense, economic stability and EU integration. Outside, thousands of demonstrators made it clear that the real battle who controls the armed forces – and how – had only just started.
Zelensky seemed on the defensive in a Thursday night address explaining his choice for new acting defense chief.
“Yevhen Khmara will serve as acting Minister of Defence of Ukraine. He headed the SSU’s Centre of Special Operations Alpha, which has achieved the most effective results in eliminating the occupiers on the front. Alpha consistently ranks number one in the monthly results,” he said.
“Khmara was responsible for the long-range operations of the Security Service of Ukraine,” Zelensky added. “We agreed that Khmara will also oversee the long-range operations of the Security Forces – this is a priority.”
Seeking to put a positive spin on a move which is proving deeply unpopular, Zelensky continued: “He knows exactly what Ukraine needs and is also capable of maintaining control over the internal situation across the components of the defense forces. He has sufficient security experience to prevent disgraceful incidents.”
⚡️🇺🇦 BREAKING: Zelenskyy confirms tensions between Fedorov and Syrskyi: “Without me, they won’t sit down together”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed tensions between former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov and Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, saying he… pic.twitter.com/olt7DuSalu
Chief Foreign-Affairs Correspondent of the WSJ, Yaroslav Trofimov, has pointed out that “Many Ukrainians (and not just Ukrainians) see this as Zelensky putting petty politics ahead of winning the war.” If the protests grow rapidly, it could cause Zelensky’s external supporters to sour on him.
