Sacked Ukrainian defence minister calls for presidential election

Dismissed Ukrainian Defence Minister Demands Presidential Vote

Ninoda.com – Mykhailo Fedorov, the 35-year-old former defence minister of Ukraine, has publicly urged his country to hold a presidential election despite the ongoing war — a move broadly interpreted as the most significant challenge yet to Volodymyr Zelensky’s hold on power since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion four and a half years ago.

“Democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia,” Fedorov stated in a YouTube video released on Tuesday, explaining that Ukraine fights “precisely because we want to remain a free European state.”

Since the conflict erupted in 2022, Ukraine has operated under martial law, which suspends all electoral activity. Fedorov did not name Zelensky in his address but made clear his frustration with the current political arrangement.

A Sudden Dismissal and Its Aftermath

Fedorov was abruptly removed from the defence portfolio last month, merely six months into the role. His ouster triggered protests nationwide and is widely understood to have stemmed from friction between him and army commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi. Within days of Fedorov’s removal, Syrskyi himself was swapped out of his post as public pressure mounted for Fedorov’s reinstatement.

Zelensky reportedly offered the former minister alternative positions, including deputy prime minister for military innovation, but Fedorov declared he would accept nothing short of returning to the defence ministry.

Hours before the YouTube video went live, Zelensky announced the nomination of Yevhenii Khmara — a career intelligence officer with minimal public visibility — to parliament as the new defence minister.

What Fedorov Built in Six Months

During his brief tenure, Fedorov was credited with injecting energy into the ministry, spearheading an anti-corruption campaign, and deploying data analytics to assess and sharpen frontline performance. Before becoming defence minister, he had served as minister of digital transformation, where he created the volunteer “IT Army of Ukraine” to launch cyber-attacks against Russian targets in the war’s opening days.

He subsequently orchestrated the “Army of Drones” fundraising initiative and introduced elements of “gamification” into military operations, designing a points system that rewarded Ukrainian units with credits for striking Russian targets. His tenure kept drones, high-tech warfare, and procurement at the centre of strategy — including a direct request to SpaceX founder Elon Musk to prevent Russia from exploiting Starlink satellites for drone strikes, a step credited with inflicting substantial disruption on Russian frontline operations.

“continue… to defeat the enemy through asymmetry, speed ofnovation, and organisational strength,” Fedorov wrote in a Facebook post shortly after his dismissal, listing his accomplishments.

The Electoral Question

Zelensky’s five-year presidential term lapsed in May 2024, yet Ukraine’s constitution prohibits voting while martial law remains in force. Last year, when US President Donald Trump suggested Kyiv was “using war” to dodge a ballot, Zelensky responded that Ukraine stood “ready for elections” within 60 to 90 days provided allied nations could guarantee their security. Many Ukrainians read Trump’s remark as echoing Vladimir Putin’s narrative questioning Zelensky’s legitimacy.

Fedorov’s call for a vote has divided opinion. Some commentators who had championed his return to the defence post nonetheless objected, arguing that even the government’s harshest critics recognised wartime elections as impractical. In his video, Fedorov offered no details of his own political ambitions, instead stressing the necessity of a “legal, safe, and realistic mechanism that will allow Ukraine to restore a full democratic process even amidst a prolonged war.”

He characterised the situation as a “systemic crisis of governance,” claiming Ukraine was “scared of change,” and singled out endemic corruption as a factor undermining the country’s war effort.

Escalating Strikes on Russian Soil

In recent weeks Ukraine has intensified long-range operations inside Russia, unleashing hundreds of drones aimed at oil refineries and the warehouses of Wildberries, the country’s largest online retailer. Moscow endured what regional governor Andrey Vorobyov described as “one of the most massive drone attacks in recent memory” on Saturday night, when roughly 600 drones were launched at the capital. Local officials reported that the latest wave of Ukrainian strikes across Russia killed nine people and wounded 23, including a child.