Sacked Ukrainian defence minister calls for presidential election

Ukraine's popular ex-defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov has called for wartime elections, in what is widely seen as the biggest challenge to Volodymyr Zelensky's presidency since Russia's full-scale invasion four and a half years ago. "Democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia," said Fedorov, 35, in a video posted to YouTube on Tuesday, adding that Ukraine is fighting "precisely because we want to remain a free European state". Since the war broke out in 2022 Ukraine has been under martial law, meaning elections are suspended. Fedorov, who did not mention Zelensky by name in the video, was unexpectedly fired from his role as defence minister last month, just six months after his appointment. Zelensky has not directly responded to the video from Fedorov, whose dismissal sparked protests across the country. But in his own video message late on Wednesday, the Ukrainian president mentioned the tasks the newly-confirmed Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara faced, including defending against deadly Russian aerial attacks and expanding Ukraine's "deep-strike capabilities" inside Russia. Meanwhile, a source in the presidential office told the BBC it was "highly bizarre to plan elections amidst