Ukrainian lawmakers have appointed former special forces operative Yevhenii Khmara as the country’s new defence minister, just hours after his predecessor delivered a political blow to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy by calling for elections to be held during wartime.
Khmara takes over the crucial defence portfolio amid renewed political tensions surrounding Zelenskiy, who has faced weeks of criticism and protests following the dismissal of 35-year-old reformer Mykhailo Fedorov from the post in July.
His appointment came only hours after Ukraine’s anti-corruption authorities announced charges against a deputy head of Zelenskiy’s office in connection with an alleged US$3 million money-laundering scheme.
Fedorov’s removal triggered rare wartime protests in Kyiv, with thousands taking to the streets over what demonstrators described as a poorly explained government reshuffle at a critical point in Ukraine’s war with Russia.
His subsequent call for elections during the fifth year of the conflict has drawn accusations of populism, particularly as public opinion remains largely against holding a vote while the war continues.
“He chose to move on the populist trajectory, underlining the risks and challenges for the democratic process of election,” said Lesia Bidochko, a policy fellow at the European Policy Institute in Kyiv.
Zelenskiy has yet to respond directly to Fedorov’s call. However, his communications adviser Dmytro Lytvyn told reporters that Russia’s continuing drone and missile attacks provided a clear answer to whether elections could be held now.
In a statement late Tuesday, Fedorov said Ukraine was facing a governance crisis and argued that the country’s democratic process should not be held hostage by Russia.
Ukrainian law currently prohibits elections during wartime. A survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology on August 5 found that 57% of Ukrainians believe elections should only be held after the war, citing the presence of hundreds of thousands of troops on the front line and continuing Russian attacks.
Fedorov said Ukraine needed to develop a legal, safe and realistic mechanism that would allow the country to restore its full democratic process despite a prolonged war.
He did not say whether he intended to contest any future election. However, another recent poll suggested that Fedorov, one of Zelenskiy’s longest-serving allies, could defeat his former political boss in a potential run-off.
Bidochko said there was currently no realistic mechanism for organising an election, given that millions of Ukrainians are living abroad as refugees, displaced within the country or serving in the military.
Public reaction to Fedorov’s proposal was mixed. A rally supporting him in central Kyiv on Wednesday evening drew only a small crowd, with a Reuters reporter counting slightly more than a dozen demonstrators.
Khmara, who briefly served as acting head of Ukraine’s SBU security service, was reportedly not Zelenskiy’s first choice for defence minister and was selected as a replacement after protests erupted over Fedorov’s dismissal.
He is best known for overseeing Ukraine’s long-range strikes deep inside Russian territory and now assumes the defence portfolio as Kyiv faces intensified Russian ballistic missile attacks and continued advances along the front line.
The frequent turnover at the Defence Ministry has also raised concerns over consistency, with Khmara becoming the third minister in a relatively short period.
Opposition lawmakers and protesters have acknowledged Khmara’s strong reputation but criticised Zelenskiy over the manner in which Fedorov was removed.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s anti-corruption authorities said they had uncovered a group allegedly involving a deputy head of the presidential office in a scheme intended to raise money for bail connected to an existing energy corruption investigation.
The latest case follows a major investigation launched last November into an alleged US$100 million kickback scheme involving Ukraine’s state atomic energy agency.
The investigation had previously implicated Zelenskiy’s then-chief of staff and fuelled widespread public anger.
Although the anti-corruption agencies did not identify the deputy presidential official, Zelenskiy later dismissed adviser Iryna Mudra after the investigation was announced. Mudra subsequently confirmed that investigators had searched her home and said she was cooperating fully with the probe while defending her reputation.
