Ukraine’s minister of defense, the youthful face of the country’s successful drone warfare program, was ousted on Wednesday in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s latest shake-up of his government.
The departure of the minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, 35, for years the most prominent proponent of fighting with drones and robots, clouds the future of the innovation-centered strategy for confronting the much larger Russian Army. He had previously headed a ministry focused on e-government initiatives and had for years been Mr. Zelensky’s closest adviser on technology.
Mr. Fedorov confirmed his departure, after just six months as defense chief, in a social media post in which he described his approach to war as fighting with the “speed of innovation.” Neither he nor the president indicated whether he would take another position in Mr. Zelensky’s government.
His exit came amid broader debate in Ukraine and beyond on the future of war. Mr. Fedorov had clashed with seasoned military generals who saw aspects of his robot war vision as fanciful or naïve. He had also angered established defense contractors with programs threatening their business, such as one that allowed soldiers to buy their own weapons on a site nicknamed the “Amazon of Weapons.”
Stas Kozliuk contributed reporting from Kyiv
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