Sacked Ukrainian defence minister calls for presidential election
Ukraine's popular ex-defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov has called for wartime elections, in what is widely seen as the biggest challenge to Volodymyr Zelensky's presidency since Russia's full-scale invasion four and a half years ago. "Democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia," said Fedorov, 35, in a video posted to YouTube on Tuesday, adding that Ukraine is fighting "precisely because we want to remain a free European state".
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Key Facts
- Fact 1: "Democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia," said Fedorov, 35, in a video posted to YouTube on Tuesday, adding that Ukraine is fighting "precisely because we want to remain a free European state".
- Fact 2: Since the war broke out in 2022 Ukraine has been under martial law, meaning elections are suspended.
- Fact 3: Zelensky - whose five-year presidential term ended in May 2024 - has been under pressure from both Washington and Moscow to hold new elections.
- Fact 4: When US President Donald Trump suggested last year that Kyiv was "using war" to avoid a vote, Zelensky said Ukraine was "ready for elections" within 60-90 days if its allies helped guarantee security for them.
Ukraine's popular ex-defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov has called for wartime elections, in what is widely seen as the biggest challenge to Volodymyr Zelensky's presidency since Russia's full-scale invasion four and a half years ago. "Democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia," said Fedorov, 35, in a video posted to YouTube on Tuesday, adding that Ukraine is fighting "precisely because we want to remain a free European state".
Since the war broke out in 2022 Ukraine has been under martial law, meaning elections are suspended. Fedorov, who did not mention Zelensky by name in the video, was unexpectedly fired from his role as defence minister last month, just six months after his appointment. Zelensky has not directly responded to the video from Fedorov, whose dismissal sparked protests across the country.
(Original synthesis pending human/AI review — generated by the stub provider by selecting real sentences from the source material, not by writing new analysis or commentary.)
Original source: BBC News World
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