After a month of daily demonstrations across Ukraine, the protest movement that rallied behind former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has turned against his latest proposal. In a video address on Tuesday evening, Fedorov called for elections to be held during wartime, a suggestion that has been swiftly rejected by the very organisers who had campaigned for his reinstatement.
Dmytro Koziatynskyi, a Ukrainian war veteran and one of the protest leaders, said on Wednesday that he opposed the idea. "I view elections during wartime negatively," he wrote on X, adding that he could not "imagine how to technically enable thousands of soldiers currently on the front lines to vote and run for office."
Koziatynskyi argued that, four and a half years into Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine could not afford the divisions that an election campaign might create. "In any case, street protests are definitely not the place for electoral discourse," he said.
His statement appeared to draw a line under the protests that began in mid-July, when President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Fedorov from the defence ministry in a wartime reshuffle. Koziatynskyi stressed that the demonstrations had been about the direction of Ukraine's defence policy, not Fedorov's personal political future. "These protests were specifically about dialogue and reforms, not about personalities," he said.
He also offered support to Yevhen Khmara, whom Zelenskyy formally nominated this week to replace Fedorov permanently. "I want to wish Mr Khmara success in his new position and sincerely hope that he will continue the course on reforms and the fight against corruption in defence," Koziatynskyi said.
Thanking those who had joined the demonstrations, he argued that the movement had achieved tangible results, pointing to the dismissal of Oleksandr Syrskyi and the appointment of Mykhailo Drapatyi. "I believe it was all worth it," he said. "At the very least, we managed to secure the dismissal of Syrskyi and the appointment of Drapatyi, which hardly anyone could have expected just a month ago."
Backlash from protesters and soldiers
Fedorov's address also prompted thousands of responses on social media, many questioning both the timing of his intervention and his motives for calling for elections only after his hopes of returning to the defence ministry had ended. "Do you think this is a good time for an election campaign video?" one demonstrator wrote on Threads. Another commented telling Fedorov: "There is a feeling that you have taken too much upon yourself."
Others questioned why Fedorov, after seven years in Zelenskyy's team, had chosen to raise concerns about the political system only after the door closed on his possible return. "So if you had been reinstated, you wouldn't criticise the system and wouldn't call for elections?" one user asked.
Some of those who said they had joined the demonstrations sought to distance the protest movement from any broader political ambitions Fedorov might harbour. "I did not go out for your political ambitions, but for you to stay at the defence ministry," one wrote. "You shouldn't have done it. This is populism," another said.
Members of the Ukrainian military also questioned how elections could realistically be conducted while hundreds of thousands of troops are fighting off Russia's invasion. One serviceman asked Fedorov whether soldiers should cast their ballots in "Kostyantynivka or Pokrovsk" – cities close to some of the heaviest fighting in eastern Ukraine.
The response from Zelenskyy's administration was brief. Dmytro Lytvyn, a presidential adviser, told reporters in a WhatsApp group chat that Russia's continuing attacks made the government's position clear on any possible elections.
The episode has highlighted the delicate balance between wartime unity and democratic accountability in Ukraine. While the protests succeeded in forcing changes at the top of the defence establishment, the rejection of Fedorov's electoral gambit suggests that even his most vocal supporters are unwilling to risk the country's stability for the sake of political ambition.
