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At least one senior military official said he was resigning in protest of Mr. Fedorov’s dismissal: Col. Pavlo Yelizarov, the deputy commander of Ukraine’s Air Forces.

“This is a great evil for the country’s defense capability,” he wrote in a Facebook post alongside a resignation letter, warning that abandoning Mr. Fedorov’s strategic air-defense reforms would lead to more damage from Russian strikes.

Many other Ukrainians shared their dismay on social media, including DeepState, a Ukrainian organization with ties to the military that tracks battlefield movements. “Dismiss Syrskyi!” DeepState wrote in a post on Telegram, where it has more than 765,000 followers.

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A protester in Kyiv on Thursday.Credit...Jedrzej Nowicki for The New York Times

In Kharkiv, Kateryna Arkhypova, a protester who works at an IT company, said that Ukraine could win the war only “by having a young, reformed system with new approaches, rather than with outdated Soviet approaches to life, war and regulations.”

Some serving soldiers joined the demonstrations. Nazariy Yeremenko, 25, protested what he called a “glaring injustice,” saying he hoped that “the power of the people, the power of free speech, will bring more sanity to the legislative system of Ukraine.”

He pointed to Ukraine’s deep strikes into Russia, its campaign to cut off Crimea and its attacks on Moscow to ramp up pressure on President Vladimir V. Putin as proof of Mr. Fedorov’s value.

“Me and my brothers-in-arms, we see an increase in efficiency,” he said. The crowd behind him chanted “Parliament, say no,” urging lawmakers to reject Mr. Zelensky’s choice to replace Mr. Fedorov, reported to be the interior minister, Ihor Klymenko.

Mr. Fedorov’s departure comes during a broader government reshuffling that has included the resignation of Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko. Mr. Zelensky replaced her with Serhiy Koretsky, the chief executive of the national oil and gas company.

While Parliament voted to approve the nomination of Mr. Koretsky and other ministers, the vote for defense minister was delayed, a possible sign that Mr. Zelensky could face trouble in gaining approval for his choice.

In his remarks at the news conference, Mr. Zelensky said he was still considering whom to nominate. Hours later, he said he had asked Gen. Yevhen Khmara, the head of Ukraine’s domestic intelligence agency, to serve as acting defense minister. Like Mr. Fedorov, General Khmara had been in his role at the agency for only about six months.

Nataliia Novosolova contributed reporting.

Andrew E. Kramer is the Kyiv bureau chief for The Times, who has been covering the war in Ukraine since 2014.