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Ousted Ukrainian defence minister Fedorov calls for wartime elections
Developing
What we know
Former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, dismissed in July, released an Aug. 18 video address calling for wartime elections and describing a “systemic crisis of governance.” Ukrainian law bars elections under martial law; wires framed the speech as the sharpest internal challenge to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy since 2022.
The address came as Zelenskyy moved to confirm Yevhenii Khmara as defence minister the next day and after weeks of protests over Fedorov’s firing.
What's confirmed
- CNN, Globe and Mail, and Kyiv Independent reported the YouTube address and election call on Aug. 18.
- Fedorov argued democracy should not be “held hostage by Russia” and urged a legal wartime voting mechanism.
- Martial-law statutes still prohibit ordinary elections; Fedorov did not detail a finished legal path.
What's still developing
- Whether parliament or the presidency opens any wartime-election legislative track.
- How the speech affects confirmation politics around the new defence minister.