President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that he offered ex-Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov a "worthy position" in government that would unite Ukraine’s technological component and ensure its development.
"Today I also had a meeting with Mykhailo Fedorov. I offered Mykhailo a worthy position in government that would allow uniting the technological component of our state and ensuring its development," Zelenskyy said in his Tuesday evening address.
"The security competence of Yevhenii Khmara, combat achievements, technological results, and deep strikes of ‘Alpha’ speak for themselves, and within the system of government structures, this is needed," the head of state added.
As reported, on July 12, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy unexpectedly announced a decision to replace the Prime Minister and government to implement an "updated political strategy." The head of state proposed Internal Affairs Minister Ihor Klymenko for the post of Defense Minister to replace Mykhailo Fedorov, who had headed the Ministry of Defense only since mid-January of this year.
According to participants, the head of state explained his personnel decision at a meeting with the parliamentary faction of the ruling "Servant of the People" party as being due to ongoing conflicts between the Defense Minister and Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky, which Fedorov himself confirmed. According to the latter, the reform of the defense procurement system and those dissatisfied with it also influenced the decision regarding his dismissal. Publicly, Zelenskyy stated that Fedorov would remain on his team, but Fedorov declined the offered position of adviser.
The President’s decision to replace Fedorov sparked public protests. Similar to July last year, when people took to the streets for the first time since the start of the war following the Verkhovna Rada’s decision to limit the independence of the SAPO and NABU, activists rather than political parties again called for "cardboard sign" protests. They began on the morning of July 16 before the vote on the new government. The Verkhovna Rada did dismiss Fedorov, but the post of the new Defense Minister remained vacant. Protests following these personnel decisions continued, and a rally on Friday evening in Kyiv near the Franko Theater drew a larger crowd than the previous day. Resignation demands for Commander-in-Chief Syrsky were added to the messages most frequently written on the cardboard signs.
Following Zelenskyy’s election as president in May 2019, Stepan Poltorak remained Defense Minister for several months, after which six ministers were appointed to the position over seven years: Andriy Zahorodniuk (August 2019 – March 2020), Andriy Taran (until November 2021), Oleksiy Reznikov (until September 2023), Rustem Umerov (until July 2025), Denys Shmyhal (until January 2026), and Fedorov. As for commanders-in-chief, there have been three during Zelenskyy’s tenure: Ruslan Khomchak (until July 2021), Valerii Zaluzhny (until February 2024), and Syrsky.
