Ukraine’s dismissed defence minister calls for wartime presidential election

Mykhailo Fedorov’s appeal is most direct challenge to Volodymyr Zelenskyy since Russian invasion in 2022

Ukraine’s recently dismissed former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov has called for a wartime presidential election in the most direct political challenge to Volodymyr Zelenskyy since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

The politician, whose abrupt sacking last month triggered a wave of protests, said that Ukraine had to “restore a full democratic process even amid a prolonged war” in a video address released online late on Tuesday evening.