KYIV — Mykhailo Fedorov, a chief architect of Ukraine’s drone warfare program, whose dismissal from his post as defense minister by President Volodymyr Zelensky set off mass protests last month, called on Tuesday for wartime elections in Ukraine.
Fedorov’s demand for elections, which are prohibited in wartime by Ukraine’s constitution and under the martial law adopted after Russia’s 2022 invasion, presents a remarkably direct challenge to Zelensky’s authority and a potential test of Ukrainian unity.
Russia repeatedly has sought to cast doubt on Zelensky’s political legitimacy by noting that elections have not been held in Ukraine since 2019. In Ukraine, the presidential term is five years, and absent Russia’s war, a vote should have occurred in 2024.
Zelensky and other top officials, as well as many of Ukraine’s Western allies, have long said that organizing presidential and parliamentary elections is impossible while Ukraine battles Russia — a point widely supported by international election experts.
Hundreds of thousands of troops are deployed, and millions of civilians are displaced, with many living outside of Ukraine.
But in a video address on social media late Tuesday, Fedorov insisted that the country “must find a legal, safe, and realistic mechanism that will allow Ukraine to restore a full democratic process even amid a prolonged war.”
“Democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia. We are fighting precisely because we want to remain a free European state,” Fedorov said. “Democracy is not a peacetime luxury. Democracy is part of what we are fighting for today.”
In his remarks, Fedorov criticized how the Ukrainian government functions and spoke at length about what he said was the chronic and debilitating problem of military corruption. However, he did not name Zelensky directly.
“People cannot endlessly live in a state where they do not understand why certain decisions are made, why some reforms move forward while others are blocked,” he said.
At the same time, he said, “corruption in wartime is not merely a financial issue. It is a matter of our capability to survive and win.”
Russia’s advance in Ukraine has largely stalled, and Kyiv has had growing success in recent months carrying out long-range drone strikes in Russia.
Zelensky’s firing of Fedorov last month as part of a broader government shake-up set off protests and raised consternation among international supporters, who questioned why he seemed to be dismantling a winning team.
Fedorov had received nationwide acclaim for his work pioneering Ukraine’s drone program while serving as the country’s minister of digital transformation. He became defense minister in January.
The political tension in Kyiv is unfolding as Russia has escalated its aerial attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, launching an increasing number of ballistic missiles and drones at targets across the country, but focusing in particular on the capital.
Ukrainian air defenses have run out of interceptors for U.S.-designed Patriot antiaircraft systems, which are in short supply amid Washington’s heavy use of them in its war against Iran.
The Patriot interceptors are Kyiv’s only means to intercept ballistic missiles. Ukraine’s Air Force has stopped providing a daily tally of how many ballistic missiles Russia fired overnight and how many were shot down.
Zelensky has faced previous demands for elections, including from President Donald Trump, who said in December 2025: “They’re using war not to hold an election. … It gets to a point where it’s not a democracy anymore.”
In response to that, Zelensky said he was open to elections but demanded help from the United States in obtaining security guarantees that could end the war and make it possible to organize a vote.
Holding an election in wartime would also require changes to the country’s constitution and wartime legislation.
However, Fedorov is not alone in saying a vote is needed, given there is no end to the war in sight.
In an interview posted on social media, former Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said Ukraine “can’t wait until the war is over” to hold elections.
“The entire idea that elections should take place after the war is over are based on the idea that the war will end soon and that we will be able to organize civilized elections,” Kuleba said. “I have a question: Who told you that the war will end soon? And secondly, who said that after the war, elections will be more civilized than during the war?”
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