Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and then-newly appointed Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov shake hands before their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, January 14, 2026. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)

In what looks like a colossal blunder, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has forced out the country’s popular Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, an old (sort of: he is only 35) associate. Fedorov had been just six months in the role but had held ministerial rank since 2019 with a focus on “digitalizing” the sclerotic Ukrainian state, not least its citizens’ interactions with it, a role that spilled over into the military side.

From Reuters:

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Fedorov made a ‌public appeal ⁠to SpaceX owner Elon Musk to switch on the Starlink satellite internet service over

...

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