Ukraine’s dismissed defence minister calls for wartime presidential election

Mykhailo Fedorov’s appeal is most direct challenge to Volodymyr Zelenskyy since Russian invasion in 2022 Ukraine’s recently dismissed former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov has called for a wartime presidential election in the most direct political challenge to Volodymyr Zelenskyy since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. The politician, whose abrupt sacking last month triggered a wave of protests, said that Ukraine had to “restore a full democratic process even amid a prolonged war” in a video address released online late on Tuesday evening. “Democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia. We are fighting precisely because we want to remain a free European state,” Fedorov said in his nine-minute speech. Though he did not mention Zelenskyy by name, Fedorov implied the current president presided over a poorly functioning state that was struggling to tackle corruption despite the national emergency. “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,” Fedorov said, arguing that Ukraine could fight a war and hold a national poll. “It is particularl