Ukraine’s ousted defence minister calls for elections during war

Ousted Ukraine defence minister calls for elections despite wartime ban

Ukraine’s former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has called for wartime elections in the biggest internal challenge President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has faced since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022.

In a bombshell address posted on YouTube on Tuesday, Fedorov said democracy in Ukraine “cannot be held hostage by Russia”.

He said the country needs to find “a legal, safe and realistic mechanism” to restart its full democratic process “even in the conditions of a long war”.

Ukrainian law currently bars elections during wartime, and no major political figure has publicly pushed back on that since the invasion began in 2022.

The 35-year-old Fedorov was a longtime ally of Zelenskyy’s until his unexpected firing from the Defence Ministry in July, just six months after his appointment.

During his brief tenure, Fedorov had built a reputation as a reformer willing to publicly challenge the military establishment, a profile that has since fuelled speculation over whether he could emerge as a genuine political rival to Zelenskyy.

His removal is widely believed to have followed tension with armed forces commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii , who was himself replaced weeks later after sustained public pressure and weeks of demonstrations calling for Fedorov’s reinstatement.