Ukraine’s sacked Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov called for wartime elections in a bombshell address on Tuesday.
He argues the nation faced a crisis of governance, in the biggest internal challenge to President Volodymyr Zelensky since Russia’s invasion.
His statement came just hours after Zelensky confirmed he had asked parliament to confirm new Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara in office on Wednesday.
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.
However, Ukrainian law prohibits holding elections during wartime.
‘Democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia,’ Fedorov said.
‘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.’
The 35-year-old who was sacked last month was a longtime ally of Zelensky’s until his unexpected firing from the Defence Ministry, just six months after he had been appointed, vowing sweeping reforms.
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.
