Zelensky’s wonder-boy former defense minister goes rogue

Mykhailo Fedorov rocketed to prominence as a driving force in Ukraine’s pioneering use of drones in the fight against Russia, eventually becoming the country’s third defense minister of the war.

Since being removed from that role last month, the wonder boy adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has taken a sharp turn against the administration he long served, calling for elections and launching accusations of corruption and mismanagement.

Ukrainian lawmakers say the 35-year-old Fedorov seems to be trying to carve out a political lane separate from his longtime boss. But they worry he’s playing into Russia’s hands.

“During the war, things are very black and white — something that is helping us to win the war, and something that is the opposite, is not helping,” said Kira Rudik, a Ukrainian lawmaker with the opposition Holos party. “So, Fedorov was helping us to win the war for the last almost five years, and I think calling for the elections is the opposite, is not helping that.”

Fedorov’s call for new elections, in a video posted to YouTube last week, was the culmination of weeks of political intrigue and public outcry following his dismissal on July 15, after just six months on the job.

Thousands of protesters turned out across the country, calling for the minister’s reinstatement, with the biggest crowd gathering around the presidential office building in Kyiv. They also demanded that Zelensky fire Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander in chief of the armed forces, who had reportedly been feuding with Fedorov.

Zelensky sacked Syrskyi on July 21 but didn’t reverse his dismissal of Fedorov. During a meeting with reporters on Saturday, Zelensky said he offered Fedorov four other positions in the government, but he rejected all of them.

“I really had and still have a very positive attitude toward Mykhailo. We have been through a lot together. But I believe that he himself goes, or is pushed, into the wrong things,” Zelensky told reporters.

He argued holding elections amid the war “would be a tsunami for the state that would split Ukraine apart.”

Fedorov has only ramped up his criticism of the government in the past week, though he has avoided direct criticism of Zelensky.

After unsuccessfully running for Parliament soon after graduating from college, Fedorov became an adviser to Zelensky after his election in 2019, becoming minister of digital transformation. During a shake-up of the government in 2023, he became deputy prime minister for innovation, development of education, science and technology — a position he held until becoming defense minister in January 2026.

In media interviews over the past week, he has alleged that corruption involving hundreds of officials is holding back Ukraine’s war effort, and he decried entrenched patronage networks and poor military planning.

“I think that there’s now a turning point which will determine our future trajectory, but it looks as though we’re gradually, slowly losing,” Fedorov told Reuters this week.

His call for elections has been rejected across the political spectrum. Rudik asked why Fedorov was only speaking out when the possibility of his return to Zelensky’s Cabinet had closed.

“I think it was completely irresponsible of him,” she said, arguing that elections would be legally and logistically impossible, while pulling crucial resources away from the war effort.

“This is the Pandora’s box that he is pressing to be open. This is something that, at different times, President Trump demanded from Ukraine, but also something that Putin really wanted,” she added, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

President Trump went as far as to call Zelensky a “dictator” during a breakdown in their relationship last year, echoing Russian talking points about the Ukrainian leader.

“He refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden ‘like a fiddle,’” Trump said in a Truth Social post in February 2025.

Zelensky has mostly repaired his ties with Trump, though the U.S. has largely cut off support for Ukraine, contributing to its growing vulnerability to Russian missile and drone attacks.

Fedorov argues it’s his “moral right” to raise the issue of elections.

“That’s what democracy is all about. If I cannot share my ideas and be open about them with my own society, then what are we fighting for?” he told the BBC .

Oleksiy Goncharenko, a lawmaker with the European Solidarity party, isn’t buying it.

“I am in opposition to Zelensky. I think he’s a bad president, but it doesn’t change the fact that he is a legitimate president, and we can’t have elections because of security reasons, just physically,” he said.

“So when Fedorov calls for elections, what does it mean? So he puts his own personal political interest ahead of the country’s interest. It looks like this,” he added.

Goncharenko said Fedorov clearly had a base of support, as evidenced by the protests last month, but he had turned off some of his supporters with the call for elections.

While Fedorov’s political career is just getting started, Goncharenko said the first chapter was “not very promising.”

As the head of the Ukrainian Parliament’s temporary investigations commission, Goncharenko said he has summoned Fedorov for questioning on Monday over his claims of corruption.

“It’s a crime, especially during the war,” he said. “So, it’s not just that you think there are some mistakes, but now he speaks about corruption, which is crime, and which kills, literally, in the wartime.”