Risk and change of priorities: what MPs say about Fedorov's appointment as Defense Minister
Mykhailo Fedorov (Photo: Valentyna Polishchuk/LIGA.net)

Appointment Mikhail Fedorov to the post of defense minister means a different team and the search for new reforms, and during a full-scale war, this is a risk, said in the comments for analysis LIGA.net a representative of the Defense Committee (Voice) Roman Kostenko.

Another member of the Defense Committee from the Servants of the people Yegor Chernev considers the replacement Denys Shmyhal fedorov as a political move, which is likely related to the negotiation process. At the same time, he said, this means moving away from "the Soviet-style army and moving to a modern model of the army."

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"Fedorov's appointment as defense minister indicates a change in priorities: maximum digitalization of the army and the transition to drones as one of the key combat units," Chernev said.

However, Solomiya Bobrovska (Holos) from the Defense Committee believes that it is impossible to "impose innovations and technologies on an organism that is not yet alive." Moreover, Fedorov's current position as Minister of Digital Transformation does not contradict the direction of innovation, technology, and drones. And a significant part of the changes in the Ministry of Defense in 2025 took place with his participation.

At the same time, the interlocutors noted that the Ministry of Defense has many problems and tasks that cannot be digitized: mobilization, provisioning, and payments, procurement and quality control. And after his appointment as minister, Fedorov will have to be responsible not only for drones and innovative technologies, but also for "every can of low-quality stew" that may end up in the units.

"This is a gigantic system of the Ministry of Strategy and the Ministry of Defense – from underwear to missiles, procurement, SZH, TCC. I think Fedorov does not fully realize the scale of the structure he has been trying to get into for four years. Or he will face some other political task," Bobrovska believes.

The scale of the tasks is really different, confirms LIGA.net tatiana Nikolayenko, Deputy Head of the Public Anti-Corruption Council at the Defense Ministry. "Fedorov made the Ministry of Digital Transformation to suit himself, and he comes to the Ministry of Defense to a ready-made and very complex facility. Which, moreover, has a limited amount of money.

In order to maintain defense funding, Ukraine must either continuously attract Western funds according to the Danish model or take a step that has been seeking for a long time industry: launch arms exports.

Nikolayenko predicts that the launch will be accompanied by huge scandals, lobbying, and corruption, as it will involve the redistribution of large sums of money.

"This is the reality of the sector. There will be scandals and Fedorov will not be able to do anything about it," she says.

In addition, it is more difficult to solve the issue of increasing the drone component in the position of Defense Minister, notes Nikolayenko. Because, in addition to the minister's plans, the process rests on the needs and orders of the General Staff, which are formed not by technical characteristics but by the name of the product. No one will buy a drone that is not on this list.

"So the new minister will have to balance his reality between dependence on the nomenclature of the General Staff's order and how much money the Ministry of Finance will allocate to him," she states.

  • on January 2, President suggested to Fedorov to become the Minister of Defense.
  • on January 9, that resigned from the post of First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Digital Transformation. The current head of the Defense Ministry did the same Denis Shmyhalwho is to become the next Minister of Energy.
  • on January 10, Zelenskyy said that he was counting on appointment of Fedorov to the Ministry of Defense in the near future.