Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov stopped rubber-stamping the General Staff’s requests. Six months in, Zelensky sided with the generals.

Mykhailo Fedorov, who spent six months as Ukraine’s defense minister, will not be reappointed to the new government. His departure came amid a broader reshuffling of Ukraine’s cabinet: on July 14, the Verkhovna Rada accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, and the rest of the ministers automatically lost their posts. Some will keep their jobs, Ukrainska Pravda reported, but the government’s resignation also gave President Volodymyr Zelensky an occasion to settle the question of the “rebellious” Fedorov.

Before taking over the Defense Ministry, Fedorov served as minister of digital transformation, a post in which he built a “state in a smartphone” by launching Diia, a popular mobile app that Ukrainians can use for nearly any government service involving documents, benefits, loans, taxes, and much more. After Russia launched its full-scale invasion, it was Fedorov who negotiated with the businessman Elon Musk to supply Ukrainian forces with satellite communications through Starlink.

The main reason for the change at the Defense Ministry was a conflict between Fedorov and Oleksandr Syrsky, the commander in chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. At a meeting with members of parliament from the Servant of the People party, Zelensky gave two reasons for dismissing Fedorov, sources told RBC-Ukraine: his vision of the war differed from Syrsky’s, and he had failed to coordinate state procurement with the General Staff.

Lawmakers who spoke anonymously with Ukrainska Pravda said Zelensky found it “very difficult” to discuss Fedorov’s dismissal at the meeting with Servant of the People representatives. Until recently, the minister had been considered a close ally of the Ukrainian president.

Ukrainska Pravda reported that Fedorov’s reforms as defense minister had driven the conflict with Syrsky. He began sweeping personnel changes as soon as he took over: the ministry moved to open tenders for procurement, introduced strict audits of defense contracts, and stopped automatically approving requests from the Armed Forces General Staff.

One participant in the president’s meeting with lawmakers recounted Zelensky’s words this way:

Zelensky gave a second reason for Fedorov’s dismissal: the minister never carried out the promised mobilization reform. At a press conference, Fedorov confirmed that he had clashed with Syrsky. He said he had proposed dismissing both the commander in chief and Andrii Hnatov, the chief of the General Staff, “if we want to defeat the enemy asymmetrically, with minimal losses.” Zelensky refused to fire Syrsky, Fedorov said, and the Defense Ministry then ran into resistance from the Armed Forces.

“All the initiatives we propose have started being blocked, and Syrsky is not ready to talk openly about problems face to face. He’s ready to show up at meetings in person, weave intrigues, imagine that someone has commissioned some kind of media campaign […]. This led to his issuing what amounted to an ultimatum […] Instead of figuring out how to defeat Russia asymmetrically — which is the commander in chief’s job — he figured out how to split the country,” he said.

How Ukraine, Russia, and the world reacted to Fedorov’s dismissal

Fedorov’s dismissal triggered protests across Ukraine. In Kyiv, crowds chanted “Bring back Fedorov!” and “Shame!” and called on Syrsky to resign. The editorial team of the media outlet United24 halted publication, announcing that it was joining the protests against Fedorov’s dismissal.

Colonel Pavlo Yelizarov submitted his resignation as deputy commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, directly linking his decision to Fedorov’s removal and calling the ouster “a great evil for the country’s defense capability.” Fedorov himself had appointed Yelizarov to the Air Force post in January 2026.

The European Union recently allocated tens of billions of euros to fund Ukraine’s defense, and its commissioner for defense and space, Andrius Kubilius, said Fedorov’s dismissal would raise questions. He called the personnel decision unexpected and said he had worked closely with the minister; the two had achieved a great deal together, he added, including nearly daily “deep strikes” on Russian regions.

Yaroslav Trofimov, the chief foreign-affairs correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, described the situation surrounding Fedorov’s dismissal this way:

In an editorial, The Financial Times argued that Fedorov’s dismissal could undermine Ukraine’s defense capabilities. The paper called him the “most successful Ukrainian minister of the past four and a half years” and “the architect of Ukraine’s drone revolution” — someone who commands respect among Western partners and is popular with young Ukrainians. The FT suggested that Fedorov irritated the country’s “still Soviet-minded top brass” with his popularity and his push for new technology.

Russian pro-war bloggers greeted the news with approval and enthusiasm, according to Ivan Filippov, who writes the Telegram channel Na Zzzzzapadnom fronte bez peremen (“All Quiet on the Zzzzzestern Front”), which tracks pro-war propaganda. The bloggers in his roundup also acknowledged the achievements of the “energetic and creative technocrat” Fedorov, who “broke the usual corrupt schemes in defense procurement.” “The fact that Zelensky removed such a productive and dangerous — for Russia — person from a leadership position is very good,” wrote the pro-war Telegram channel Osvedomitel (“The Informant”).