Defence minister sacked by Zelensky calls for elections in Ukraine

Ukraine’s ousted defence minister has published a dramatic address demanding an election.

Mykhailo Fedorov, who was dismissed from his post last month amid public outcry, said in a video posted to YouTube: “Democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia.

“We must find a legal, safe and realistic mechanism that will allow Ukraine to restore a full democratic process even amidst a prolonged war.”

The former minister, who was once a staunch ally of Volodymyr Zelensky, said corruption in Kyiv had been harming its war effort, and claimed his country had been seeing a “systemic crisis of governance”.

He said: “The old system lives by its own rules too often. It protects itself. It is scared of change.”

Mr Zelensky has repeatedly rejected the notion of holding electionsduring wartime, despite demands from Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, as well as some factions of Ukrainian society.

Mr Fedorov’s address came hours after Mr Zelensky announced that he would formally nominate Maj Gen Yevhen Khmara, a former security service (SBU) official, to take over the defence ministry.

His comments amounted to one of the most significant challenges to the Ukrainian president since the start of the war.

The former defence minister’s trust rating soared from 35 per cent to 65 per cent after he was ousted in July, surpassing that of Mr Zelensky. In a poll published by the Rating Group that month, 72 per cent of respondents said they opposed his dismissal.

Several military officials and ministry advisers stepped down in protest at the decision.

Mr Fedorov’s six-month tenure as defence chief was marked by a push to modernise Ukraine’s armed forces through technology and reform military procurement in an attempt to address corruption.

The decision to remove him was followed by countrywide protests, but demonstrators’ demands later shifted to calling for the dismissal of Oleksandr Syrskyi, the controversial army commander-in-chief with whom Mr Fedorov had clashed.

Mr Zelensky ceded to the public outcry on July 21, dismissing the 60-year-old general, who had led the military since 2024, but he refused to reinstate his reforming ex-defence minister, replacing him in an interim capacity with Maj Gen Khmara.

The Ukrainian parliament entered a month-long recess and reconvened on Tuesday, when Mr Zelensky told deputies he had formally nominated the SBU official as Mr Fedorov’s successor. Deputies were due to vote on that nomination on Wednesday.

Although Mr Fedorov was dismissed more than a month ago, protests in his support continued to gather pace throughout August. A demonstration in the centre of Kyiv on Sunday drew thousands of his supporters carrying cardboard signs and lasted several hours.

Dmytro Koziatynskyi, a war veteran who has spearheaded the protests, said the aim was to “remind the president that ... the president himself must bear responsibility for the consequences of all questionable personnel decisions”.

On Tuesday, Maj Gen Khmara confirmed he would leave military service to become the defence minister. However, on Monday, the public broadcaster Suspilne reported that he may lack the votes in parliament to be appointed to the role.

An MP from Mr Zelensky’s Servant of the People party told the outlet: “For some MPs, this is not a question of being for or against Khmara; it is a vote against Fedorov. People are demanding Fedorov’s return.”

Ukrainska Pravda, a Ukrainian media outlet, followed up that report on Tuesday with claims that defence ministry team members planned to follow Mr Fedorov out of the door, forcing Maj Gen Khmara to assemble a new staff for the ministry.

A source in Mr Fedorov’s team said: “So the question now is how Khmara will move forward, given that he won’t have a team and has no one to appoint to the top positions.”

Mr Zelensky has said he offered Mr Fedorov a number of other positions in government, including roles that would allow him to strengthen Ukraine’s technological sector. However, Mr Fedorov said he would only return as defence minister.