Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that actions by dismissed Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, including his involvement in mass protests and later calls for elections, were misguided, as he publicly set out their dispute for the first time. He also said inaccurate information from the Defence Ministry contributed to an awkward exchange with US President Donald Trump over the use of Starlink over Russian territory, while Ukraine is also facing a growing shortage of Patriot air-defence missiles.
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In a transcript released on Sunday from a two-hour off-the-record meeting with reporters held on Saturday, Zelenskyy also spoke about pressure on Ukraine’s defence budget, a corruption probe, the state of peace negotiations and the battlefield. He said Ukrainian forces had almost completely retaken the Dnipropetrovsk region, with only about 10 sq km and three small villages remaining outside Ukrainian control.
Zelenskyy said: ‘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.’ Fedorov, who was credited with modernising Ukraine’s armed forces and speeding up the military’s use of technology and drone warfare, was dismissed last month after a reported fallout with the country’s top military commander. His removal triggered weeks of mass protests that failed to reverse the decision, and Fedorov later called for elections. Zelenskyy said he had offered Fedorov four different options to continue working in government, but he rejected all four.
Zelenskyy also linked Fedorov to an uncomfortable episode involving Starlink and Elon Musk. He said that earlier this year the Defence Ministry told him SpaceX had agreed to let Ukraine use Starlink over Russian territory for deep-strike operations, subject to political approval. Acting on that, he said, he raised the matter directly with Trump and told him Musk had confirmed the proposed use. Zelenskyy said both sides then sought Musk’s confirmation and discussed financing for the project.
But at a later meeting, Zelenskyy said, Trump told him Musk had rejected the proposal and accused him of misleading the US president. According to Zelenskyy, Musk considered the move a dangerous escalation. ‘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,’ Zelenskyy said. He did not explicitly accuse Fedorov of lying, but said the episode was among the reasons behind ‘some of the steps’.
Zelenskyy also pushed back against protesters’ attacks on former army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, whom he dismissed, and current Defence Minister Maj. Gen. Yevhen Khmara. ‘Maybe someone doesn’t like Syrskyi for one reason or another. But the slogans Syrskyi is the devil, Khmara is the devil. Listen, this is too much. Do you understand? In principle, you can’t treat the military like this and tolerate it, especially when it was the military that made it possible for any peaceful protests to take place in the Ukrainian capital at all,’ he said.
On finances, Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s defence effort was under severe pressure. He said the Defence Ministry faced a USD 27 billion budget shortfall after spending decisions earlier this year brought forward funds originally meant for the second half of 2026.
Touching on a corruption probe that led him to remove one of his most senior officials this week, Zelenskyy said anti-corruption investigators did not believe he was involved. Investigators had named a deputy head of the presidential office among suspects in a money-laundering case. ‘The heads of anti-corruption agencies have zero questions for me. They understand perfectly well that I am not involved in anything like that. And this is important to me,’ he said.
On the battlefield, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had almost completely regained control of the Dnipropetrovsk region, with only about 10 sq km and three small villages still outside Ukrainian control. He said another operation was under way elsewhere and its results were expected by the end of August. He also said that by the end of 2026 Ukraine could reach parity between the territory occupied by Russia since the start of this year and the territory retaken by Ukrainian forces. According to Zelenskyy, Russia has occupied about 990 sq km since the beginning of the year, while Ukraine has restored control over roughly 820 sq km. He said Russia’s main objective remained the Konstantynivka-Sloviansk-Kramatorsk axis, and that Moscow was still demanding that Ukraine withdraw from the Donbas region as a condition for a settlement.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine was receiving far fewer Patriot interceptor missiles even as Russian ballistic attacks were increasing. He said Ukraine received 675 Patriot missiles in 2023, compared with 364 in 2025 and an expected 264 in 2026. He said he wanted to secure 300 additional Patriot missiles for the coming winter, while Ukraine’s Air Force had asked for 360. He added that the United States and European partners were struggling to increase production, and said he hoped Ukraine could receive even 5 per cent or 10 per cent of US reserves and pay for them. Zelenskyy said Russia could eventually produce up to 1,300 ballistic missiles a year, against an estimated current capacity of 600. He also said Ukraine was preparing alternatives to Starlink, including a European communications project, as Russia and China work on their own competing system.
The remarks brought together Zelenskyy’s account of his split with Fedorov, the strain on Ukraine’s finances and air defences, and his assessment of the battlefield and peace talks.
With PTI Inputs
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
