Former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said he was ready to return to the post of head of the Defense Ministry if President Volodymyr Zelensky made such an offer. He said this in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda.
Former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said he was ready to return to the post of head of the Defense Ministry if President Volodymyr Zelensky made such an offer. He said this in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda.
When asked directly by UP journalists whether he was ready to return to the ministry, Fedorov answered unequivocally: «100%. ” He added that he does not perceive the position as an end in itself: «I do not need any position» and «I definitely do not need to be employed» — but if he returns to the government, then, given the mission that he sees before him, it should be a functional position in the Ministry of Defense, the challenges of which he feels ready. If the return does not take place, according to him, there are other ways to realize this vision.
Fedorov also emphasized that he does not plan to leave Ukraine after his resignation: «I will stay in Ukraine, that is, I will not go to work in any other countries.» He said that he wants to continue working on projects related to war — the development of technologies that can affect the situation on the battlefield, and did not rule out focusing on one specific direction or technology in which he believes the most.
He concluded with a strong statement: Parliament removed him from the position of Minister of Defense, but cannot take away his vision and ideas for further actions.
Fedorov also explained that he refused the position of Deputy Prime Minister for Military Innovations because of its «decorativeness.» «Wherever I am, I will follow the vision, but I will not hold some decorative position. I associate myself as a manager who knows how to build a system and achieve results. And if I don’t see the result, it super demotivates me,» the former government official noted.
According to the former head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, thanks to his experience working in the government, he understands which positions are functional and which are not.
«A deputy prime minister without a ministry is actually an advisor who can advise the system on how to work, but you don’t have the opportunity to form a team or influence the real result. You may have an institutional conflict with the ministries you are responsible for, because you don’t choose the heads of these ministries. You may have a different view of the policies they are engaged in. Therefore, this is more of a decorative position that is not aimed at realizing my strengths,» argued Fedorov.
As a reminder, two weeks ago, Mykhailo Fedorov announced that he was leaving the post of Minister of Defense of Ukraine and published a farewell post in which he summed up his work. Fedorov’s resignation and his absence from the new government caused a wide resonance in the DefenceTech community — entrepreneurs and investors in the industry mostly expressed concern about the loss of momentum in the ministry’s reforms, although some market participants urged not to personalize the problem.
