Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says he believes actions taken by dismissed defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov, including his involvement in mass protests and calls for an election, are misguided, as he publicly detailed their dispute for the first time.
Zelenskiy also alluded to problematic decisions over defence spending and said that inaccurate information provided by the Defence Ministry contributed to an awkward encounter with US President Donald Trump over the use of Starlink in Russia.
Zelenskiy disclosed figures showing Ukraine's growing shortage of Patriot air-defence missiles needed to counter Russian ballistic attacks, with deliveries from Western allies declining in the past 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 10sq/km remaining under Russian control.
The Ukrainian president made the remarks during a two-hour off-the-record meeting with reporters on Saturday, with a transcript released publicly on Sunday.
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 modernising 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 an election.
Zelenskiy said he had offered Fedorov four different options to continue working in the government. Fedorov, he said, rejected all of them.
The Ukrainian leader told journalists that he believes holding an election during the war would be a huge risk with the 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.
Zelenskiy said he had previously faced pressure to hold an election during the war, but no partners had come up with a plan for how a poll could be held safely, legitimately and democratically.
Zelenskiy appeared to link Fedorov to an awkward episode involving Starlink and Elon Musk.
Zelenskiy said that earlier this year, the Defence Ministry had told him that 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, Zelenskiy said, he raised the issue directly with US President Donald Trump. He told Trump that Musk had confirmed the proposed use. Zelenskiy said the two sides subsequently sought Musk's confirmation and discussed financing for the project.
But at a later meeting, Zelenskiy said Trump told him that Musk had rejected the proposal and accused him of having misled the US president. Musk considered the move a dangerous escalation, according to Zelenskiy.
"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 Defence and they said that maybe it was so," he said.
Zelenskiy didn't explicitly accuse Fedorov of lying. He said that the situation was among the reasons behind "some of the steps".
Australian Associated Press