Sacked Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov calls for presidential elections

Ukraine's former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov called for wartime elections just hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy formally nominated Yevhen Khmara as his permanent successor, effectively closing the door on Fedorov's return to government.

In a video entitled "Address of Mykhailo Fedorov to the People of Ukraine," released a month after his dismissal sparked nationwide protests, Fedorov said Ukraine should find a way to restore elections despite the ongoing fight against Russia's full-scale invasion.

"We must not let Putin decide when Ukrainians can choose their government," he said.

"Democracy is not a peacetime luxury. Democracy is part of what we are fighting for today."

Fedorov’s intervention followed Zelenskyy’s nomination of Yevhen Khmara, the acting defence minister and a former head of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), to take the post permanently.

The move appeared to settle weeks of uncertainty over Fedorov’s future.

Zelenskyy offered him several senior government posts after his dismissal, including deputy prime minister roles, but Fedorov turned them down, insisting that he would only return to lead the defence ministry.

Khmara’s nomination ruled out that possibility. Fedorov’s remarks later on Tuesday shifted the focus from the dispute over his former post to wider questions of elections, political accountability and the exercise of power during wartime.

The decision to address Ukrainians on social media with a political speech and to focus on issues extending well beyond his former ministerial portfolio, has already fuelled speculation about the political ambitions of one of Ukraine’s most popular former ministers.

Fedorov had not previously called for elections during the war.

He did so only after Khmara’s nomination made clear that he would not return to the defence ministry.

Ukraine has not held national elections since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. According to Ukraine's constitution, elections cannot be held under martial law, while organising a nationwide vote during the war would present formidable security and logistical challenges, including how to enable troops, millions of Ukrainians living abroad and people in frontline areas to vote.

Fedorov did not call for an immediate vote or set out a timetable. Instead, he argued that Ukraine should devise a mechanism for holding elections during the war, giving Ukrainians the opportunity to assess the record of those in power and decide whether they continued to command public trust.

Democracy, he argued, "could not simply be postponed" until the war was over.

The former minister also linked political accountability to the conduct of the war, criticising corruption and bureaucratic inefficiency and warning that failures in the management of public money could ultimately cost lives if resources intended for defence were diverted.

"Power must mean responsibility," Fedorov said, arguing that officials entrusted with authority, public money or government positions should be required to account for what they had achieved.

He also called for greater openness from the authorities, saying the extraordinary trust placed in the government since Russia’s invasion did not give officials the right to operate without explaining their decisions.

"People do not demand that the state never make mistakes," Fedorov said. "But they have a right to the truth."

Fedorov’s intervention brings the politically sensitive question of elections back into focus as Zelenskyy seeks to draw a line under a month of turmoil at the defence ministry.

Khmara, whose appointment requires parliamentary approval, is a veteran of Ukraine’s security services who previously commanded the SBU’s Alpha special operations centre.

He was involved in the 2022 operation to retake Snake Island and later oversaw Ukraine’s campaign of long-range drone strikes against Russia. He became acting head of the SBU in January 2026 after Vasyl Maliuk stepped down.

Fedorov has not publicly criticised Khmara and appears to have sought a smooth handover to his successor. In an interview on 6 August, he said he had personally talked Khmara through a detailed “war plan.”

“This was the first thing I did, I showed it to him personally,” Fedorov said. He added that he had explained how the plan translated into procurement and development, breaking the overall strategy down into hundreds of individual projects spanning weapons production and financing.

But Fedorov’s decision to address Ukrainians directly on elections, public trust and government accountability suggests his departure from office may mark the beginning of a different political role rather than a retreat from public life.

That prospect contrasts with how Fedorov described his future only weeks ago. In an interview with Ukrainska Pravda at the end of July, he said he did not see himself as a politician and was uncomfortable discussing possible political ambitions.

“Honestly, I don’t see myself as a politician,” Fedorov said. “I am, after all, a manager who builds complex systems, manages them and sees the results.”

At the time, he said he would continue building systems that could help Ukraine bring the war to an end, but would decide what to do next only once the turmoil surrounding his departure from government had reached what he called a “logical conclusion”.

“After that, I will clearly understand what I am going to do and where I am going to go,” he said.