KYIV, Ukraine — In a surprise and potentially destabilizing move that marks one of the most significant domestic tests for Volodymyr Zelenskyy since Russia launched its full-scale invasion nearly three years ago, ousted Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has publicly called for national elections to proceed despite the ongoing active conflict, warning that the country is currently trapped in a deep-rooted governance crisis.
Fedorov, who until his dismissal in July was counted among Zelenskyy’s closest and longest-serving most loyal political allies, laid out his demands in a pre-recorded video address published to YouTube this Tuesday. The former minister stressed that Ukrainian leadership must move quickly to develop a legitimate, secure and logistically feasible framework to restore the country’s full democratic process, even while the nation remains locked in a prolonged full-scale war with Russia.
“We must find a legal, safe, and realistic mechanism that will allow Ukraine to restore a full democratic process even amid a prolonged war,” Fedorov stated in the address.
As of Tuesday evening, Zelenskyy’s office had not issued any immediate public response to Fedorov’s appeal.
Under current Ukrainian legislation, all national elections are banned during the period of martial law, which has been in continuous effect since February 24, 2022 — the exact day Russia launched its large-scale invasion of Ukrainian territory.
Fedorov went further than his call for elections, alleging that Ukraine is now facing a systemic breakdown in its governing structures. He argued that the current ruling system is primarily focused on self-preservation and actively blocks any meaningful reform. He also publicly decried widespread corruption among government officials, stopping short of naming specific individuals or agencies, and claimed that this graft has directly eroded Ukraine’s capacity to defend itself against Russian forces.
The former defense minister claimed that his own removal from office was tied to the sweeping overhaul he spearheaded of the Defense Ministry’s procurement system — a department that manages billions of dollars in military equipment purchases for Ukraine’s armed forces.
“Corruption in wartime is not merely a financial issue. It is a matter of our capability to survive and win,” Fedorov said. “Every single hryvnia intended for defense must work for defense. Not for a private pocket.”
Fedorov’s video address was released just hours after Ukraine’s Parliament confirmed it had received a formal nomination from Zelenskyy to appoint Yevhenii Khmara as the new permanent defense minister, Parliament speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk announced via his official Facebook page on Tuesday.
Since Fedorov’s sudden ouster in July, large-scale public demonstrations in support of the former minister have drawn significant crowds across Kyiv over the past month. While the protest movement has seen a slight decline in turnout from its initial peak, weekly weekend marches still bring thousands of demonstrators onto the capital’s streets, many carrying handcrafted signs calling on Zelenskyy to reverse Fedorov’s dismissal and reinstate him to the defense minister post.