Zelensky details rift with dismissed defense chief Federov, saying some of his actions were misguided

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he believes actions taken by dismissed Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, including his involvement in mass protests and calls for elections, were misguided, as he publicly detailed their dispute for the first time.

Zelensky also alluded to problematic decisions over defense spending and said inaccurate information provided by the Defense Ministry contributed to an awkward encounter with President Trump over the use of Starlink in Russia.

The Ukrainian leader disclosed figures showing his military’s growing shortage of Patriot air-defense missiles needed to counter Russian ballistic attacks, with deliveries from Western allies declining in the last three years even as Russian missile strikes intensified.

He highlighted battlefield gains, however, saying Ukrainian forces have almost completely recaptured the Dnipropetrovsk region, with only about 4 square miles remaining under Russian control.

He made the remarks during a two-hour meeting with reporters Saturday, with a transcript released Sunday.

Wide-ranging discussion

His comments ranged widely, covering the latest battlefield developments, efforts to counter Russian ballistic attacks, the state of peace negotiations, Ukraine’s budgetary challenges and the political turmoil surrounding Fedorov’s dismissal.

“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,” he said.

Fedorov, a popular minister credited with modernizing Ukraine’s armed forces and accelerating the military’s embrace of technology and drone warfare, was dismissed last month after reportedly falling out with the country’s top military commander. His removal triggered mass protests that lasted for weeks but ultimately failed to force a reversal of the decision. Fedorov later called for elections in a video address.

Zelensky said he had offered Fedorov four options to continue working in government. Fedorov, he said, rejected all four proposals.

The Ukrainian leader told journalists that he believes holding an election during the war would be a huge risk with potential to “split Ukraine apart.”

“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.

Zelensky said he had previously faced pressure to hold elections during the war, but no partners had come up with a plan for how a poll could be held safely, legitimately and democratically.

Starlink episode

Zelensky appeared to link Fedorov to an awkward episode involving Starlink and Elon Musk. Zelensky said that earlier this year the Defense Ministry had told him that Musk’s SpaceX had agreed to allow Ukraine to use Starlink over Russian territory to carry out deep-strike operations, subject to political approval.

Acting on that, Zelensky said, he raised the issue directly with Trump, telling him that Musk had confirmed the proposed use. Zelensky said the two sides subsequently sought Musk’s confirmation and discussed financing for the project.

But at a later meeting, Zelensky said Trump told him that Musk had rejected the proposal and accused him of having misled the U.S. president. Musk considered the move a dangerous escalation, according to Zelensky.

“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,” he said.

Zelensky did not explicitly accuse Fedorov of lying. He said this episode was among the reasons behind “some of the steps” that led to the minister’s ouster.

Zelensky also took issue with protesters’ vilification of former army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, whom he also fired, and current Defense Minister Maj. Gen. Yevhen Khmara, saying they 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.”

Pressure on defense budget

The president also described severe financial pressure on Ukraine’s defense effort. He said the Defense Ministry faced a $27-billion budget shortfall after spending decisions earlier in the year brought forward funds originally intended for the second half of 2026.

Touching on a corruption probe that led Zelensky to fire one of his most senior officials last week, he said anti-corruption investigators do not believe the president was involved. The investigators had named a deputy head of the presidential office among the suspects in a money-laundering case.

“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.

As for the battlefield situation, Zelensky was optimistic, saying Ukraine had almost completely regained control of the Dnipropetrovsk region, with only about 4 square miles and three small villages remaining outside Ukrainian control.

He said another operation was underway elsewhere and that its results were expected by the end of August.

He also predicted that by the end of 2026 Ukraine could reach parity between the territory occupied by Russia since the beginning of the year and the territory retaken by Ukrainian forces. Zelensky said Russia had occupied about 380 square miles since the start of the year, while Ukraine had restored control over roughly 315 square miles.

The president said that Russia’s principal objective remained the Konstantynivka-Sloviansk-Kramatorsk axis and that Moscow was still demanding Ukraine withdraw from the eastern Donbas region as a condition for a settlement.

Patriot missile access

Zelensky said Ukraine was receiving substantially fewer Patriot interceptor missiles even as Russian ballistic attacks are increasing.

He said Ukraine received 675 Patriot missiles in 2023, compared with 364 in 2025 and an expected 264 in 2026. Zelensky said he wanted to secure 300 additional Patriot missiles for the coming winter, and Ukraine’s air force had requested 360.

The shortfall is particularly serious because the United States and European partners are struggling to expand production. Zelensky said he hoped Ukraine could obtain even 5% or 10% of U.S. reserves and was able to pay for them.

He said Russia could eventually produce up to 1,300 ballistic missiles a year, compared with an estimated current capacity of 600.

He said Ukraine was also preparing alternatives to Starlink, including a European communications project, as Russia and China work on their own competing system.

In other developments

In other developments in the Ukraine war:

Debris from a Ukrainian drone hit two industrial facilities including a warehouse belonging to online retailer Ozon, local officials in Russia’s Orenburg region said Sunday. As well as shifting the war onto Russian soil through long-range drone strikes on oil facilities that have caused fuel shortages across Russia, Ukraine has unsettled the Russian public by striking warehouses of online retailers, including the country’s biggest online retailer, Wildberries, and competitors such as Ozon.

One person was killed and six wounded in Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia’s Belgorod border region, local authorities said Sunday. A woman also died in a drone attack in the Tula region.

A woman was killed and four other people wounded when a Russian drone hit an electric train in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Mykola Kalashnyk said Sunday.

Kullab writes for the Associated Press.