Ukrainian president Volodmyr Zelenskiy dismissed deputy head of the presidential office Iryna Mudra on Wednesday, according to a decree published on the presidential website. There was no reason given for the dismissal.
Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies said earlier that they had uncovered a group, including a deputy head of the office, under suspicion of money laundering.
The agencies announced a special operation against lawmakers and presidential advisers, hours before a key vote in parliament approved the appointment of Yevhenii Khmara as Ukraine’s new defence minister.
On Tuesday, Ukraine’s ousted defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov called for wartime elections in a stunning online address, arguing the nation faces a crisis of governance. It marked the biggest internal challenge to president Zelenskiy since Russia’s invasion.
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Fedorov’s call, delivered in a video address posted on YouTube, is the first such demand by a major Ukrainian political figure since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Ukrainian law prohibits holding elections during wartime.
“Democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia,” Fedorov said. “We must find a legal, safe and realistic mechanism that will allow Ukraine to renew its full democratic process even in the conditions of a long war.”
Fedorov (35) was a long-time ally of Zelenskiy until his unexpected firing from the defence ministry in July, just six months after he had been appointed, vowing sweeping reforms.
Shortly after his dismissal, the tech-savvy Fedorov publicly criticised the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, exposing a bitter rift between the men and their different visions for the war.
Thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets to demand the sacking of Syrskyi – an old-guard military commander blamed by his critics for heavy troop losses at the front line – and Fedorov’s reinstatement.
Although Zelenskiy said he had dismissed Fedorov because of his inability to work with Syrskyi, the president fired the military chief shortly afterwards under public pressure.
Protests in support of Fedorov have continued for the past month, losing some of their early momentum but still regularly drawing a couple thousand attendees in Kyiv.
While Fedorov did not say in his address that he would compete in any election, a recent poll indicated the former minister would comfortably beat Zelenskiy in a run-off vote, where the top two presidential candidates go head-to-head.
Fedorov’s statement came just hours after Zelenskiy confirmed he had asked parliament to confirm Khmara as defence minister.
There were demonstrations in Kyiv on Wednesday morning outside the parliament.
Hours before the vote, Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies Nabu and Sapo began a special operation against lawmakers and presidential advisers.
In what appeared to be an open challenge to Zelenskiy, Fedorov said in his address that Ukraine faced a “systemic crisis of governance.”
“The old system lives by its own rules too often. It protects itself. It is scared of change,” he said.
Without providing names, Fedorov condemned official corruption, which he said hurt Ukraine’s war effort.
The former minister recently said he believed his reform of the defence ministry’s procurement processes, responsible for purchasing billions of dollars of equipment, contributed to his sacking.
Zelenskiy’s office had no immediate comment on Fedorov’s address.
The youngest minister in Ukraine’s history when he was appointed aged 28 as Ukraine’s digitalisation chief, Fedorov spent six years in that post. He was the last remaining member of Zelenskiy’s first cabinet in 2019.
His role running the ministry of digital transformation saw him become an early adopter of drone warfare, which has turned combat in Ukraine on its head since 2022.
However, his nationwide profile grew greatly after his appointment to run the vast defence ministry in January, immediately vowing a data-driven overhaul. Unlike his predecessors, Fedorov publicly laid out a strategy to defeat Russia through attrition and technological superiority.
“Our people have long been ready for a different country,” Fedorov said in his address. “Now, our state must become worthy of its people.” – Reuters
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