Sacked Ukraine defense minister calls for wartime elections in bombshell address 

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - KYIV — Ukraine’s ousted Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov called for wartime elections in a bombshell address on Tuesday, arguing the nation faced a crisis of governance, in what many see as the biggest internal challenge to President Volodymyr Zelensky since Russia’s invasion.

Fedorov’s call, delivered in a video address posted on YouTube, is the first such demand by a major Ukrainian political figure since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.

“Democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia,” Fedorov, 35, said, adding that Ukraine is fighting "precisely because we want to remain a free European state".

“We must find a legal, safe and realistic mechanism that will allow Ukraine to renew its full democratic process even in the conditions of a long war,” he said.

Since Russia's invasion Ukraine has been under martial law, which means elections are suspended.

Fedorov, who did not mention Zelensky by name in the video, was unexpectedly fired from his role as defense minister in late July, just six months after his appointment.

Shortly after his dismissal, the tech-savvy Fedorov publicly tore into the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, exposing a bitter rift between the men and their different visions for the war.

Thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets to demand the sacking of Syrskyi — an old-guard military commander blamed by his critics for heavy troop losses at the front line — and Fedorov’s reinstatement.

Although Zelensky said he had dismissed Fedorov because of his inability to work with Syrskyi, the president fired the military chief shortly afterwards under public pressure.

Protests in support of Fedorov have continued for the past month, losing some of their early momentum but still regularly drawing a couple thousand attendees in Kyiv.

Zelensky is yet to respond to the video from Fedorov, whose dismissal sparked protests across the country.

During his tenure as defense minister, Fedorov was credited with energising the ministry, heading a drive against corruption and using data to analyse and try to improve performance on the front line.

Fedorov gave no indication as to his own political plans in the YouTube video, instead focusing on the need for a "legal, safe, and realistic mechanism that will allow Ukraine to restore a full democratic process even amidst a prolonged war".

He added that the country was facing a "systemic crisis of governance" and is "scared of change", and pointed to corruption in Ukraine as one of the things hurting the country's war effort.

While Fedorov did not say he would compete in any election, a recent poll indicated the ex-minister would comfortably beat Zelensky in a runoff vote, where the top two presidential candidates go head-to-head.

Zelensky has since appointed Yevgeniy Khmara, a career intelligence official with a low political profile, as acting defense minister.

Other posts in Zelensky's government were offered to Fedorov, including deputy prime minister for military innovation, but the 35-year-old has said he would only return as defense minister.

A former minister of digital transformation, Fedorov set up a volunteer "IT Army of Ukraine" to launch cyber-attacks against Russians in the early days after its full-scale invasion.

Later, he led a successful fundraising campaign called the Army of Drones and brought in elements of "gamification" to the war, designing a system that awarded Ukrainian military units with credits for hitting Russian targets.

As defense minister, his focus on drones, high-tech warfare and procurement continued, and saw him ask SpaceX founder Elon Musk to stop Russia from using Starlink satellites for drone attacks.

The move has been credited with causing considerable disruption to Russia's frontline operations and advance.

In a Facebook post shortly after his dismissal, Fedorov listed his achievements and said he would "continue... to defeat the enemy through asymmetry, speed of innovation, and organisational strength".