Ukraine’s popular ex-defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, has called for wartime elections, in what is widely seen as the biggest challenge to Volodymyr Zelensky’s presidency since Russia’s full-scale invasion four and a half years ago.
“Democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia,” said Fedorov, 35, in a video posted to YouTube on Tuesday, adding that Ukraine is fighting “precisely because we want to remain a free European state”.
Since the war broke out in 2022, Ukraine has been under martial law, meaning elections are suspended.
Fedorov, who did not mention Zelensky by name in the video, was unexpectedly fired from his role as defence minister last month, just six months after his appointment.
Zelensky is yet to respond to the video from Fedorov, whose dismissal sparked protests across the country. However, a source in the presidential office told the BBC it was “highly bizarre to plan elections amidst missiles and drones. This demonstrates a complete lack of realism”.
In a separate development, Ukraine’s two anti-corruption agencies said they were conducting a special operation targeting current and former MPs as well as an unnamed official in the presidential office.
Hours later, Zelensky’s office said its deputy head Iryna Mudra had been dismissed, amid local media reports of a raid on her premises. There was no immediate comment from Mudra, although MP Vadym Stolar, whose home was searched as part of the operation, said he was co-operating with anti-corruption officials.
In his video, Fedorov complained that corruption was depriving the military of weapons and equipment and making it harder for Kyiv to win the war. He spoke of Ukraine facing a “systemic crisis of governance” and being “scared of change”.
