Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he believes decisions made by dismissed Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, including his involvement in mass protests and calls for an election, were misguided, offering the first public account of their falling out.
Zelensky also touched on problematic defense spending decisions and said inaccurate information from the Defense Ministry contributed to an awkward exchange with President Trump over the use of Starlink in Russia. He disclosed figures pointing to a growing shortage of Patriot air-defense missiles needed to counter Russian ballistic attacks, even as deliveries from Western allies have declined over the past three years while Russian missile strikes have intensified.
Still, he highlighted battlefield progress, saying Ukrainian forces have nearly fully recaptured the Dnipropetrovsk region, with only around 10 square kilometers remaining under Russian control.
Zelensky made the remarks during a two-hour off-the-record meeting with reporters Saturday, with a transcript released publicly Sunday. His comments touched on recent battlefield developments, efforts to counter Russian ballistic strikes, the state of peace negotiations, Ukraine’s budget challenges, and the political fallout surrounding Fedorov’s dismissal.
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“I really had and still have a very positive attitude toward Mykhailo. We have been through a lot together. But I believe that he himself goes, or is pushed, into the wrong things,” Zelensky said.
Fedorov, a popular official credited with modernizing Ukraine’s armed forces and accelerating its adoption of drone warfare and military technology, was dismissed last month after reportedly clashing with the country’s top military commander.
His removal sparked weeks of mass protests that ultimately failed to reverse the decision, and Fedorov later called for an election to be held. Zelensky said he had offered Fedorov four different options to remain in government, all of which Fedorov turned down.
The Ukrainian leader said he believes holding an election during wartime would carry enormous risk, warning it could split the country apart.
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“I believe elections during a war like this would generally pose enormous risks. Holding elections right now would be a tsunami for the state that would split Ukraine apart,” he said, adding that he had faced pressure before to hold a wartime election but that no partner had ever proposed a credible plan for conducting one safely, legitimately and democratically.
Zelensky also connected Fedorov to an uncomfortable episode involving Starlink and Elon Musk. He said the Defense Ministry had informed him earlier this year that SpaceX had agreed to let Ukraine use Starlink over Russian territory for deep strike operations, pending political approval.
Acting on that information, Zelensky said he raised the matter directly with Trump, telling him Musk had confirmed the arrangement, and the two sides subsequently pursued Musk’s confirmation and discussed financing for the project.
At a later meeting, however, Zelensky said Trump told him Musk had actually rejected the proposal and accused him of misleading the American president, with Musk reportedly viewing the plan as a dangerous escalation.
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“He said that I had supposedly deceived him, because Musk had denied Ukraine the use of Starlink on Russian territory. I went back to our Ministry of Defense and they said that maybe it was so,” Zelensky said. He stopped short of directly accusing Fedorov of lying, but said the episode was among the reasons behind subsequent decisions.
Zelensky also pushed back on protesters’ harsh criticism of former army chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, whom he dismissed, as well as current Defense Minister Maj. Gen. Yevhen Khmara, saying demonstrators had gone too far. “Maybe someone doesn’t like Syrskyi for one reason or another. But the slogans ‘Syrskyi is the devil, Khmara is the devil,'” he said.
“Listen, this is too much. Do you understand? In principle, you can’t treat the military like this and tolerate it, especially when it was the military that made it possible for any peaceful protests to take place in the Ukrainian capital at all.”
On the budget front, Zelensky described severe financial strain on Ukraine’s defense effort, saying the Defense Ministry faces a $27 billion shortfall after earlier spending decisions pulled forward funds originally intended for the second half of the year.
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Addressing a corruption investigation that led him to dismiss one of his most senior officials this week, Zelensky said anti-corruption investigators, who named a deputy head of the presidential office among the suspects in a money-laundering case, do not believe he was personally involved. “The heads of anti-corruption agencies have zero questions for me. They understand perfectly well that I am not involved in anything like that. And this is important to me,” he said.
On the battlefield, Zelensky struck an optimistic tone. Beyond Ukraine’s near-complete recapture of the Dnipropetrovsk region, he said another operation was underway elsewhere, with results expected by the end of August.
Ukraine’s leader also predicted that by year’s end, Ukraine could achieve rough parity between territory Russia has occupied since the start of the year and territory Ukrainian forces have retaken, noting Russia had seized about 990 square kilometers over that period while Ukraine had reclaimed roughly 820 square kilometers.
Zelensky also said Russia’s primary objective remains the Kostiantynivka-Sloviansk-Kramatorsk axis, and that Moscow continues to demand Ukraine’s withdrawal from the Donbas as a condition for any settlement.
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On the question of air defense, Zelensky said Ukraine is receiving significantly fewer Patriot interceptor missiles even as Russian ballistic attacks increase. He said Ukraine received 675 Patriot missiles in 2023, compared to 364 in 2025 and an expected 264 this year. He said he hopes to secure 300 additional Patriot missiles ahead of the coming winter, while Ukraine’s air force has requested 360.
The shortfall is especially concerning given that the U.S. and its European partners are struggling to expand production; Zelensky said he hopes Ukraine could obtain even 5% to 10% of U.S. reserves and would be able to pay for them. He noted Russia could eventually scale production up to 1,300 ballistic missiles annually, compared to an estimated current capacity of around 600.
Zelensky added that Ukraine is also developing alternatives to Starlink, including a European communications project, as Russia and China work to build their own competing system.
