Ukraine’s ousted defense minister has triggered the biggest challenge to Volodymyr Zelensky’s hold on the presidency since Russia’s full-scale invasion, calling for wartime elections and warning that Ukrainian democracy is imperiled.
Mykhailo Fedorov, whose dismissal last month prompted antigovernment protests, lambasted Ukraine’s leadership and what he called a lack of democratic process in the country, in a video address urging wide-scale reforms to root out corruption, excessive bureaucracy and cronyism.
Adding to the pressure on Zelensky, hours later investigators from Ukraine’s anticorruption unit conducted a series of raids as part of a probe into the activities of Ukrainian presidential officials, one of whom the president proceeded to fire.
During his six-month tenure as defense minister, Fedorov was widely praised as an innovator who pushed against the Soviet mindset prevalent in parts of the armed forces and promoted the use of modern technologies such as drones and digital fixes to reduce bureaucracy.
His 10-minute monologue, published on YouTube late Tuesday and titled “An Address to Ukrainians,” is being interpreted in Kyiv as the opening gambit in a potential run for the presidency. Martial law in Ukraine, imposed after Russia’s 2022 invasion, prohibits elections.
“People cannot endlessly live in a state where they do not understand why certain decisions are made, why some reforms move forward while others are blocked, why decisions needed on the front lines today spend months circulating through government offices,” Fedorov said. “A country fighting a war for its existence certainly cannot function this way.”
The broadside came on the eve of a vote in Ukraine’s parliament to formalize the appointment of Yevhenii Khmara as new defense minister, a move Fedorov opposed. Since his firing, several rounds of negotiations with Zelensky about his future have failed to land him in a new role.
On Wednesday, Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau searched the home of Zelensky’s deputy chief of staff as part of a sweeping investigation that is now reaching the highest levels of government.
NABU accused the deputy, Iryna Mudra, and other members of Zelensky’s team of involvement in laundering 150,000,000 hryvnia ($3.4 million) of illicit proceeds using the country’s central bank. Shortly after NABU’s announcement, Zelensky published a decree on his website that Mudra had been fired, without giving a reason for the move.
Mudra didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
NABU’s probe has already ensnared Zelensky’s former chief of staff and a deputy prime minister in his government.
Political analysts say Fedorov’s statement is designed to harness public frustration over perceived government corruption and Zelensky’s prosecution of the war, rare demonstrations of which have been on display in recent street protests as the president’s approval rating has sunk.
After his ouster in late July, Fedorov initially voiced limited criticism of the authorities, hoping to strike an agreement with Zelensky or prompt the president to reverse his decision, the former minister’s aides said.
In a series of media interviews, Fedorov argued that corruption in the country’s weapons industry and political score-settling were hobbling Ukraine’s defense effort, but he declined requests from reporters asking him to name those officials allegedly involved in criminal activity.
The new video address, which Fedorov delivered dressed in black and facing the camera in the style of Zelensky’s own nightly addresses to the nation, signals an attempt to position himself as a central challenger for the presidency, analysts say. Zelensky himself gave no evening video address on Tuesday, an unusual break from his wartime routine.
Volodymyr Fesenko, a political analyst in Kyiv, said Fedorov’s status as a former minister in Zelensky’s government means he may try to persuade disgruntled officials in the president’s orbit to defect—raising his own stock as a political challenger at a time when the president is weakened.
“He’s demonstrating his readiness to become the new opposition leader,” Fesenko said.
Still, some were skeptical the move would result in a groundswell of support. One opposition lawmaker on Wednesday said Fedorov had rocked the establishment but predicted that his statement would likely have a limited effect politically since parliament had approved Zelensky’s defense minister and didn’t want further turbulence.
“Misha’s on his own here,” the lawmaker said, using another version of Fedorov’s first name.
Zelensky has repeatedly said he is open to elections, but martial law prevents Ukraine from holding a vote. The president and his allies have also highlighted the difficulty of safely organizing such a vote amid continuing hostilities and said a ceasefire would be necessary to facilitate it. When President Trump said last year that Kyiv was “using war” to avoid a vote, Zelensky said Ukraine was “ready for elections” within two to three months if its allies helped guarantee their security.