Former Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has said his dismissal from office was primarily driven by his efforts to overhaul Ukraine’s military procurement system, arguing that reforms aimed at increasing transparency and restructuring the Defence Ministry encountered strong resistance from officials within and around the institution.
In an interview published on Wednesday by Ukrainska Pravda, Fedorov, a technical expert widely regarded by supporters as a key reformer during Ukraine’s nearly four-and-a-half-year war against Russia, said his attempts to modernise procurement processes had generated widespread opposition.
“The reason is connected with procurement, tenders, to the fact that we began overhauling the processes in this area,” Fedorov, 35, told Ukrainska Pravda.
“This caused significant dissatisfaction among many people, who then started constantly exerting influence and spreading negativity, not just around the president but across the broader media space.”
Fedorov served as Defence Minister for six months and said that introducing a competitive tender system for military procurement was among his first priorities upon taking office. He described the initiative as part of a broader effort to address longstanding structural problems within the ministry by reforming procurement procedures and reshaping its management.
“Our task was to fix the root of the problem as quickly as possible,” he said.
“First, launch tenders. Second, restructure the management system in the Defence Ministry, and choose the people working there differently, based on the goals we came in with.”
According to Fedorov, the reform process brought sustained pressure from multiple directions, reinforcing his belief that systemic change was necessary to resolve entrenched problems.
He said he experienced pressure “from all sides as part of the process”, adding that the solution required rebuilding the institutional foundations rather than addressing individual issues in isolation.
Fedorov was removed from President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s cabinet as part of a broader military and political reshuffle that also saw Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko leave office. He was replaced as Defence Minister by Yevhenii Khmara, previously head of the SBU security service.
His supporters have credited him with helping shift battlefield momentum in Ukraine’s favour through strikes targeting Russian infrastructure. His dismissal prompted several days of protests by supporters calling for his reinstatement.
President Zelenskiy said Fedorov had been in conflict with Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, who was also subsequently dismissed during the shake-up.
Fedorov, however, rejected suggestions that personal disagreements had contributed to the developments. He said President Zelenskiy informed him of his dismissal no more than an hour before a meeting of the president’s Servant of the People parliamentary faction.
He also denied any personal conflict with Syrskyi, characterising their differences as disagreements over strategic approaches to the war rather than interpersonal tensions.
“It was more of a conflict in terms of world view. We have a certain vision of the war that we came in with,” Fedorov said.
“We, as the Defence Ministry, did not block any decisions of the General Staff or the Commander-in-Chief.”
The interview provides Fedorov’s first detailed public account of the circumstances surrounding his dismissal, portraying the leadership change as the culmination of resistance to reforms within the Defence Ministry rather than the result of personal disputes with Ukraine’s military leadership.
