Ukraine appoints tech-driven reformer as defence minister

On 14 January, Ukraine’s parliament appointed Mykhailo Fedorov as the country’s new defence minister, marking a significant career shift for the young, but long-serving government official who has become one of the most influential figures of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s era.

Fedorov, who built his political profile around the concept of a “state in a smartphone” during his tenure as minister of digital transformation, signalled that he intends to apply the same data-driven, audit-focused logic to the defence sector.

Fedorov replaced Denys Shmyhal as Ukraine’s minister of defence, becoming the fourth person to lead the ministry since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Speaking before lawmakers ahead of his confirmation vote in parliament, Fedorov for the first time publicly disclosed official figures on the scale of unauthorised absences from the armed forces. According to him, around 200,000 Ukrainian soldiers have left their military units without permission, while some two million citizens are currently listed as wanted. It was the first time a senior Ukrainian official acknowledged such numbers in a parliamentary setting.

Fedorov told MPs that his priority would be to address long-standing systemic problems without undermining the country’s defence capacity. “We will propose a systemic solution to resolve problems that have accumulated over the years, while preserving the country’s defence capability. Everything must be based on data – that is my priority. We will measure the effectiveness of everything,” he said. As part of this approach, he announced a comprehensive audit of territorial recruitment centres, the armed forces and the Ministry of Defence, while also stressing that increasing financial compensation for servicemen would be a priority for his ministry.

❗️“We are the first in the world to create drone-assault regiments, one of which served as the strike force in the recent de-occupation of Kupiansk,” — Ukraine’s new Minister of Defense Fedorov
“We are moving toward full autonomy on the battlefield — from machine vision and data… pic.twitter.com/TrkUBqO5UC
— 🪖MilitaryNewsUA🇺🇦 (@front_ukrainian) January 14, 2026

After their meeting yesterday, Zelenskyy outlined what he described as the immediate priorities for the new defence minister, placing air defence at the top of the agenda and calling for rapid, “concrete decisions”.

Who is Mykhailo Fedorov

Aged 34, Fedorov is the only member of Zelenskyy’s original team who has remained in government throughout the president’s time in office. For more than six years, he led the Ministry of Digital Transformation, combining that role first with the position of deputy prime minister and later first deputy prime minister.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Fedorov’s focus expanded beyond digitalisation to defence technologies. He launched the “Army of Drones” initiative to procure unmanned systems and train operators, created the Brave1 defence technology cluster, introduced the “e-points” system for distributing drones among military units, and initiated the creation of the experimental NEXT unit within the armed forces to accelerate the deployment of defence innovations. At the very beginning of the invasion, he also played a key role in securing Starlink satellite terminals for Ukraine through direct communication with Elon Musk.

His appointment as defence minister is seen as a logical continuation of that trajectory. For the first time since entering government, however, Fedorov will not be building an institution from scratch. Instead, he will be tasked with reforming an enormous, highly regulated bureaucratic structure, managing a defence budget of around three trillion hryvnias (roughly €70-75 billion) and overseeing a complex web of international partnerships, with the stated goal of ensuring that Ukraine’s armed forces are fully supplied.

Born in Vasylivka near Zaporizhzhia – a town now under Russian occupation, Fedorov graduated in 2014 from Zaporizhzhia National University, where he studied sociology and management. During his student years, he served as “student mayor” of Zaporizhzhia and founded the civic organisation “Active Z”.

The same year he completed his studies, Fedorov ran for parliament on the list of the libertarian 5.10 party led by businessman Hennadiy Balashov. The party failed to enter parliament, winning just 0.4% of the vote. Fedorov later said that he had not planned to pursue a parliamentary career at the time and described his placement on the list as unexpected.

In 2015, he turned to business, founding the digital marketing agency SMMSTUDIO, where he served as CEO. He later registered a company under the same name and expanded into other ventures, including a firm specialising in construction and installation services.

Fedorov met Volodymyr Zelenskyy through work in the digital sector, after Zelenskyy’s company Kvartal-Concert became a client of his agency. In December 2018, Zelenskyy invited Fedorov to join his presidential campaign, an offer he accepted together with his team.

After Zelenskyy’s election victory, Fedorov became coordinator of the IT committee in the Servant of the People party and secured sixth place on its electoral list for the 2019 parliamentary elections. He later attributed the party’s strong showing in single-member districts to a well-organised digital and media strategy.

On 29 August 2019, parliament appointed Fedorov as deputy prime minister and minister of digital transformation in the government of Oleksiy Honcharuk. He has since worked under four cabinets and three prime ministers, becoming first deputy prime minister in the government led by Yuliia Svyrydenko.

From the outset, Fedorov described his work in government as a “professional challenge” defined by scale. His team set out five digitalisation goals for five years, backed by clear performance indicators. Under his leadership, the Ministry of Digital Transformation became one of the least problematic ministries in terms of decision-making, allowing him to focus on launching new initiatives rather than crisis management.

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The full-scale invasion in February 2022 fundamentally reshaped his portfolio. On 26 February, just three days into the war, Fedorov publicly appealed to Musk to provide Ukraine with access to Starlink. The following day, Musk granted Ukraine free access and delivered the first 500 terminals, with the U.S. government later covering operating costs.

Fedorov subsequently initiated the “Army of Drones” project, raising funds through the UNITED24 platform. Within the first week, more than 200 million hryvnias were collected. The initiative evolved into a state programme encompassing operator training, drone development, procurement and integration into the armed forces. In 2023 alone, over 300,000 drones were contracted under the programme, 90% of them domestically produced.

In March 2023, Fedorov was appointed deputy prime minister for innovation, education, science and technology, while retaining leadership of the digital ministry. He was also tasked with overseeing defence technologies, at a time when trust in the Ministry of Defence had been weakened by corruption scandals.

That same year, the government launched the Brave1 defence technology cluster, designed as a “one-stop shop” to fast-track innovation. By November 2025, Brave1 had issued more than 700 grants worth 2.6 billion hryvnias and registered over 2,300 companies producing drones, robotics, electronic warfare systems and missiles.

As defence minister, Fedorov now faces a vastly expanded remit, including mobilisation, military reform, infrastructure improvements at the front, and tackling corruption. Addressing parliament before the vote, he said his goal was to change the system itself – fostering leadership, trust and accountability, and concluded with a personal note about his occupied hometown.

“For the past four years, I have lived with the goal of liberating Vasylivka,” Fedorov said. “For me, this story is personal.”

Reshuffle

Fedorov’s appointment came amid a broader reshuffle of Ukraine’s security and defence leadership initiated by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Prior to the vote, parliament approved Fedorov’s dismissal as first deputy prime minister and minister of digital transformation, while on 13 January lawmakers backed the removal of Denys Shmyhal as defence minister. Earlier, on 2 January, Zelenskyy had proposed Fedorov for the defence post, saying that Shmyhal would be reassigned to another role within the presidential team.

The same day, Zelenskyy nominated military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov to head the presidential office. Budanov confirmed that he had accepted the offer, stating that he was “continuing to serve Ukraine”. Further changes followed on 5 January 2026, when the president proposed a new strategic role for Vasyl Maliuk within the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), tasking him with overseeing asymmetric operations. Maliuk confirmed his resignation as SBU chief, describing the move as part of a broader modernisation of the security system. Zelenskyy subsequently appointed Major General Yevhen Khmara as acting head of the SBU, with parliament formally receiving the request to dismiss Maliuk on 9 January.

The full articles in Ukrainian published by EUalive’s partner Suspilne can be found here.

Caption: Ukraine’s newly appointed Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov attends a parliamentary session in Kyiv, Ukraine, 14 January 2026, amid the Russian invasion. The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, confirmed Fedorov’s appointment following his resignation as First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation. EPA/ANDRII NESTERENKO