Ousted Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov says Ukraine is ‘slowly losing’ the war against Russia

Ukraine’s leadership has no overall vision for how to win the war against Russia, former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov told Reuters. Corruption and the slow adoption of new technology are also holding the country back, he said.

“I think that there’s now a turning point which will determine our future trajectory [in the war], but it looks as though we’re gradually, slowly losing,” Fedorov said.

Fedorov said developing AI-controlled drones, cheap interceptor missiles, and ballistic missiles could turn the tide of the war in Ukraine’s favor. Ukrainian manufacturers are already working on these technologies. What Ukraine lacks, Fedorov said, is a unified strategy to use them as effectively as possible once they are deployed.

“Technologies exist already which could completely stop the Russians, but our absence of vision … means we do not apply them,” he said.

Fedorov also criticized the Ukrainian state for its inefficiency, saying it operates at only “5% effectiveness.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office responded that Fedorov had spoken positively about the war’s progress for Ukraine as recently as during his tenure as defense minister.

Mykhailo Fedorov, a former member of Zelensky’s team, served in his government as minister of digital transformation and later as defense minister. Just six months into the job, in July 2026, he was dismissed over his clash with Oleksandr Syrsky, then the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces.

Fedorov’s dismissal set off protests in Ukraine. Zelensky removed Syrsky and, according to media reports, began offering Fedorov new posts in the government. But Fedorov was willing to return only as defense minister — a job Zelensky had already given to Yevhen Khmara, the former head of Ukraine’s Security Service.

During the conflict over his dismissal, Fedorov gained political clout and placed third in one of several private polls on a hypothetical Ukrainian presidential election. Soon after, he called for elections to be held even before the war ends. Zelensky’s office said the proposal shows “a complete lack of realism.”