Zelenskyy Reveals Details Of The Dispute Between Fedorov And Syrsky
- 23.08.2026, 14:43
The former defense minister and the former chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine had no contact with one another.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described details of the conflict between former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov and the then-Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi, which resulted in both being dismissed, reports "Suspilne" reports.
According to Zelenskyy, one of the reasons for the personnel changes was a conflict between the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and the military command. According to the plan, the Ministry of Defense is responsible for supplying the army, while conducting operations and commanding troops fall under the military’s jurisdiction, he explained.
“There cannot be a conflict at this level between leaders. If there’s an operation on the battlefield, it’s primarily handled by the military. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense handles logistics. If someone encroaches on another’s area of responsibility, it will inevitably lead to conflict. And a conflict did occur—a very serious one,” Zelenskyy said.
As it turned out, early in Fedorov’s tenure at the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, they had separately agreed on a division of authority. However, the minister later proposed the concept of a so-called “ministry of war,” under which the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine would effectively report to the Minister of Defense. Zelenskyy claims that he asked Fedorov to abandon this model, but Fedorov subsequently attempted to implement a similar approach through other means. Syrsky, in turn, “began to counter one bureaucracy with another.”
Ultimately, during one of their meetings, Fedorov suggested “honestly firing both of them.” Zelenskyy responded that personnel decisions would be made sequentially, as he did not consider it feasible to replace both the defense minister and the commander-in-chief at the same time during wartime.
Eventually, according to the Ukrainian leader, Fedorov and Syrsky effectively stopped communicating directly and discussed issues only during meetings in his office. Two weeks before the personnel decision, Zelenskyy suggested that they meet on their own to resolve their differences, but this did not happen.
At the same time, the Ukrainian president emphasized that he has a positive opinion of Fedorov and noted his achievements in the field of digital transformation. After deciding to replace the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, Zelenskyy, according to his own account, offered the dismissed minister various options for continued employment on four separate occasions.
“I offered him different formats for continuing to work as part of the team serving our country four times. I don’t usually meet with people four times just to offer them a job. <�…> Mykhailo turned down all four offers. Well, that’s his choice,” he added.