Ukraine's recently ousted defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov called for wartime elections Tuesday, warning of a governance crisis as he mounted the most significant internal challenge to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy since 2022.
Fedorov's call, delivered in a video address posted on YouTube, is the first such demand by a major Ukrainian political figure since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. The law in Ukraine prohibits the holding of elections during wartime.
The 35-year-old Fedorov was a longtime ally of Zelenskyy's until his unexpected firing from the defence ministry in July, just six months after he had been appointed, vowing sweeping reforms.
"Democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia," Fedorov said. "We must find a legal, safe and realistic mechanism which will allow Ukraine to renew its full democratic process even in the conditions of a long war."
In what appeared to be an open challenge to Zelenskyy, Fedorov said 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 naming names, Fedorov hit out at official corruption, which he said hurt Ukraine's war effort. The ex-minister recently said he believed that his reform of the defence ministry's procurement processes, responsible for purchasing billions of dollars of equipment, contributed to his sacking.
Zelenskyy's office had no immediate comment on Federov's statement.
