Kyiv’s ex-defence chief makes risky bet by venturing into electoral grounds

Ukraine has been rocked with many corruption scandals, the latest of which saw a presidential aide fired on Wednesday.

Eradicating corruption “is a matter of our capability to survive,” Fedorov said, adding “we have a systemic crisis of governance.”

Fedorov had been a longtime Zelensky ally, having worked with the president since he took office in 2019.

For expert Volodymyr Fesenko, the video marked a clear departure from this alliance. 

“This video address that came out last night is definitely a bid for the role of opposition leader,” he said.

He added, however, that the challenge was not directed at Zelenskyy personally but “against what you may call the collective Zelenskyy”.

The video even featured images of former presidential aide Andriy Yermak and parliamentary faction leader David Arakhamia, alongside blurred photographs of other figures within Zelenskyy’s entourage.

The political move was risky in a country with low trust in politicians, especially in times of war. 

“In all our surveys, people say they don’t want politics right now,” the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) executive director Anton Grushetskyi told AFP. 

“People don’t want politicians, people want some patriots fighting for Ukraine,” he added.

And Fedorov went against the biggest red line in wartime Ukraine: holding elections.

Ukraine has suspended elections under martial law, a measure still widely supported by the population as the country focuses on fighting off the Russian invasion. 

Only Russia and the United States have urged Kyiv to hold elections, a prospect Zelenskyy says he is committed to making possible, but only after hostilities end.