Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced his resignation. He summed up the results of his six months in office. Among his achievements, Fedorov listed disabling Starlink access for Russians, a “logistics lockdown” in Crimea, and the procurement of drones for medium- and long-range strikes. “It was a great honor to serve the Ukrainian people as defense minister,” he wrote, adding that he would continue to help the army.

On July 12, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced personnel changes in the government and the replacement of Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko in order to renew the strategy in domestic and foreign policy. The Verkhovna Rada supported this decision. According to sources cited by Ukrainska Pravda, Zelensky decided to remove Fedorov from his post because of a “systemic conflict” with Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi. The Economist wrote that the minister had sought the general’s dismissal.

Zelensky plans to appoint Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko as the new head of the Defense Ministry. At the same time, Fedorov will remain on the president’s team. Before coming to the Defense Ministry in January 2026, he served as deputy prime minister and minister of digital transformation. This is already the fifth change of the head of Ukraine’s military department since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022.

Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to the head of the Defense Ministry, spoke out in support of Fedorov, suggesting that the reason for his dismissal may have been his fight against corrupt schemes within the ministry. Blogger Serhii Sternenko said that he is no longer an adviser to the defense minister, stating that “the state has become much farther from victory.”

The Financial Times called Fedorov’s resignation the most significant personnel reshuffle in the government, one that could undermine the country’s war effort. The publication links him to the development of Ukraine’s “drone revolution,” reform of the Defense Ministry, and attempts to change the army recruitment system, noting that Fedorov may have irritated the military command with his modern approach and prevented influential figures from profiting from defense contracts.