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On 15 July, Mykhailo Fedorov was dismissed from his post as the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, following the resignation of the Prime Minister and several other ministers as part of Zelenskyy's major governmental reshuffle. “It has been my great honor to serve the Ukrainian people as Minister of Defense,” he wrote, followed by a list of 22 achievements from his cabinet, including cutting off Russian Starlink access and an increase in drone interception rates under his leadership.
Discussions about his replacement were met with criticism from parts of Ukrainian civil society, as Zelenskyy has not yet outlined the reasons for his dismissal.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets Mykhailo Fedorov on July 12 to discuss the changes already implemented and key challenges in the defense sector. Source: Volodymyr Zelenskyy/Telegram.
Mykhailo Fedorov was appointed Minister of Defense this January and previously served as Minister of Digital Transformation, during which he turned Ukraine into one of the global leaders in the digitalization of public services.
During his term at the MoD, which lasted less than six months, he focused on improving the effectiveness of the ministry’s operations, digitizing military processes, and launching a long-awaited army reform.
This February, Fedorov succeeded in deactivating Starlink terminals used by Russian forces by coming up with a solution together with Space X to create a white list for Starlinks used on the territory of Ukraine. This made Russia halt assaults on many sections of the front line, led to domestic chaos, and hindered the coordination of its military operations.
Ukraine's Minister of Defense Mykhailo Fedorov (L), Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiga (C) and Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko. Source: Tetiana DZHAFAROVA / AFP via Getty Images.
The ministry, under Fedorov’s leadership, focused on procuring mid-strike drones, which made recent attacks on Russian logistics routes possible. Fedorov also started introducing tender-based defense procurement to avoid corruption schemes, conducted internal investigations, and subjected ministry officials to polygraphs (widely used by the Ukrainian government, despite lacking scientific validation).
Fedorov’s innovative ideas faced skepticism from traditionalist military leaders, including the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskyy. The Economist reported that the minister sought the general’s resignation but did not succeed. The conflict between Fedorov and Syrskyy was widely known, and their opinions clashed on multiple fronts, including procurement, new ministry staff appointed by Fedorov, military operations, and army reform. Other Ukrainian generals doubted Fedorov was qualified enough for the post because of his lack of military experience.
At the same time, Mykhailo Fedorov has some support in the Armed Forces, especially among units that extensively use technology. However, his army reform was met with criticism from many military personnel. They believe that their pay was not raised sufficiently and expressed dissatisfaction with new contracts, which do not resolve the issue of deferment, and are skeptical about the mechanism of discharge from service.
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