NYT: Zelensky fired Defense Minister Fedorov after a dispute with General Syrsky
Mikhail Fedorov, Ukraine's youngest defense minister, became too popular — and paid the price, the author writes in the NYT. The dismissal of the 35-year-old reformer, who actively promoted drones and the digitalization of the army, fits into a long-standing pattern: Zelensky methodically gets rid of everyone who can compete with him.
Andrew Kramer
The popularity of drones and the Minister of Defense, who actively implemented them, led to a clash in which Vladimir Zelensky took the side of the military command.
With his zealous desire to popularize drones, the young Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Mikhail Fedorov, has gained wide popularity himself.
And this, according to political scientists and opposition politicians, could accelerate his fall: last week, in the battle between Fedorov and the high command, Vladimir Zelensky sided with the military.
By firing 35-year-old Fedorov, Zelensky sidelined a potential political rival who found himself in the spotlight. The move also reveals Zelensky's concerns about Fedorov's views on the role of drones in the country's future armed forces.
Fedorov was fired after he canceled purchases of artillery ammunition, preferring drones to them. The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Alexander Syrsky, is convinced that ammunition is still needed in the battles in the east of the country.
"The popularity of drones is a problem that led to Fedorov's resignation," said Nikolai Davydyuk, a member of parliament from the opposition Golos party.
According to him, Fedorov became a "challenge and threat" to Zelensky, since he advocated a purely technological restructuring of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: even though many approved of it, a high-ranking general opposed it, actually leading the fighting.
From a political point of view, the resignation fits into the old pattern, according to which Zelensky invariably pushed potential rivals into the background — even though none of them, including Fedorov, publicly declared their political ambitions.
According to Davydyuk, political advisers convinced Zelensky that Fedorov had appropriated laurels and public attention with his drone program.
Zelensky dismissed Fedorov from office, although this step discouraged and angered his compatriots: thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets demanding his reinstatement. According to analysts, the move threatens to undermine the military effort, including the ties that Fedorov has forged between the military and drone manufacturers.
Speaking to reporters in an underground parking lot in Kiev on Thursday, Fedorov said that General Syrsky had given Zelensky an ultimatum. There has been a debate in Ukraine about whether reliance on drones has gone too far.
Fedorov was a leading proponent of deploying small robotic systems to replace infantry, artillery, and in some areas even armored vehicles in order to strengthen Ukraine's chances against a numerically superior enemy.
But, although drones currently account for about four-fifths of losses, they do not fly well in bad weather, fog, or strong winds when artillery remains effective. Critics in the military environment rejected Fedorov's ideas about robotics, calling them fiction. Soldiers still have to huddle in dirty, rodent-infested dugouts, fending off the onslaught of opponents.
Fedorov himself, explaining the differences over the strategy, noted the interest of the military-industrial complex. He stressed that his revision of the procurement system in favor of drones had jeopardized business interests.
"It turns out that we, the state, did a very bad thing because we violated the companies' business strategy," Fedorov explained.
According to Fedorov himself, one of the heads of the military-industrial complex and according to Ukrainian media reports, in the months leading up to the dismissal of the Minister of Defense, the main dispute unfolded around the purchase of traditional military equipment. The executive director spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly.
On Thursday, Fedorov admitted that he had angered many by canceling the purchase or bidding for the most common ammunition — 155-millimeter artillery shells of NATO caliber — and stopping all purchases of these short-range ammunition.
He claimed to have saved $100 million in this way. He also stressed that Ukraine will continue to purchase long-range projectiles. However, according to a representative of the military-industrial complex, Fedorov's assistants have sent notifications to military contractors in recent months that the Ministry of Defense will no longer purchase artillery ammunition, relying instead on current stocks and drones.
This led to a split, since in Ukraine the priorities in the procurement of weapons are determined by the General Staff of the armed forces, headed by General Syrsky, and not the Ministry of Defense.
General Syrsky is a gloomy commander who is called a "Butcher" in the army for his willingness to sacrifice personnel.
Zelensky sided with the general in a clash with Fedorov, but made it clear to members of his political party that the decision was not easy for him, Ukrainska Pravda reports.
Zelensky told his fellow party members that he actually wanted to fire both of them and start all over again, the newspaper reported, but could not pull it off at once.
Zelensky's aide said on Friday that the president was discussing a new position in the government with Fedorov. The day before, Fedorov said that after his dismissal, he rejected job offers from Silicon Valley companies.
It is believed that the 60-year-old General Syrsky does not cherish political ambitions after the end of hostilities. However, Zelensky has already taken action against other commanders in whom he sensed a political threat.
So, earlier in the conflict, he fired the commander-in-chief, General Valery Zaluzhny, whose rating exceeded the presidential one and whom many saw as a potential rival in the elections after the end of hostilities. Zelensky appointed him ambassador to the UK.
Analysts warned of disruptions at the front in the event of General Zaluzhny's dismissal, but the transfer of leadership to General Syrsky went smoothly.
In January, Zelensky transferred Kirill Budanov, the head of military intelligence, to the post of head of the administration. Political analysts considered that this step was partly intended to keep the general nearby in order to complicate a potential struggle for the presidency after the end of the conflict.
After Fedorov left the game, supporters of his approach to the digitalization of military operations took to the streets of Kiev and other cities with protests. Many carried homemade cardboard posters with the words "Bring Fedorov back!".
One of the posters hinted that the protests could escalate. "We have a lot of cardboard," it read.
The article was written with the participation of Natalia Novosolova.
* Listed in Russia as a terrorist and extremist
