"A catastrophic mistake". Several MPs oppose replacing Shmyhal with Fedorov

This week, the Verkhovna Rada may vote on reshuffling the Cabinet of Ministers, including the resignation of Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal and the appointment of the current First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov. Such an initiative by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is likely to be supported, but a number of parliamentarians have told LIGA.net that they consider it a mistake.

The leader of the faction Servant of the People David Arakhamia made it clear that the members of the presidential majority would vote for the president's proposal: "It is the president's authority to appoint and dismiss the defense minister. It is clear that the faction supports its president.".

However, not everyone in the parliament supports this reshuffle – some believe that it is too early to replace Shmyhal as head of the Defense Ministry.

Interlocutors LIGA.net call Shmyhal a systematic and professional person.

"This cannot be compared to the previous Defense Minister [ Rustem Umerov ]. The work is being done systematically and strategically, in all areas, and it is a pleasure to see it," said Roman Kostenko, MP from Holos, representative of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence.

The head of this committee, Oleksandr Zavitnevych, confirmed that thanks to Shmyhal's strong managerial position in the key defense agency, many areas have been raised.

MP from Servant of the People Fedir Venislavsky, who is also a member of the Defense Committee, emphasized that Shmyhal is knowledgeable in "almost everything" – from weapons and their samples to defense procurement.

Solomiya Bobrovska, another representative of the committee from Holos, said that Shmyhal had only begun to build the system – from procurement and recruitment centers to personnel decisions and military service.

She calls the replacement of the current Defense Minister a "catastrophic mistake." She says that "now is not the time" and that replacing the special services and the Defense Ministry in the current format "looks strange.".

"We do not touch the Armed Forces, where there is a mixture of authoritarianism and permissiveness, but we interfere in bodies that have just started to work properly or are relatively effective," she said .

• Shmyhal has been heading the Ministry of Defense since July 2025. Prior to that, he was Prime Minister .
• On January 2, 2026, Zelenskiy proposed that Fedorov head the defense ministry.
• On January 3, the president said he expected the Verkhovna Rada to support Shmyhal's candidacy for Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister.