Ukraine’s newly put in Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov waltzed on stage like a slapstick comedian to take the mic in entrance of journalists in Kyiv as a modern slideshow zoomed throughout a map of the nation.
The Ted-talk type briefing — a departure from the ministry’s beforehand stiff method — encapsulates the power Fedorov is making an attempt to inject into Ukraine’s battle machine, 4 years into the Russian invasion.
Appointed in January, the 35-year-old with brief salt-and-pepper hair is Ukraine’s youngest ever Defence Minister.
On a mission to modernise the military, he took over an equipment dealing with stretched air defences, monetary uncertainty, stalled peace talks, recruitment issues and widespread forms and battle fatigue.
“We’ll flip the battle into a knowledge platform,” stated Fedorov, carrying his trademark sweatshirt and denims in a speech punctuated with jokes.
“We’ll take all the information and see what works. The whole lot that works properly will proceed,” he stated — a private mantra that will not seem misplaced in Silicon Valley.
‘Second of reality’
Fedorov has spent a lot of the battle selling superior know-how, like drones, as a method to offset Ukraine’s shortages in manpower, cash and ammunition.
He started his profession in digital advertising and marketing and his first roles in authorities have been spearheading on-line providers for residents, together with the nation’s now now?ubiquitous state providers app Diia.
Russia’s 2022 invasion — which noticed his residence city within the southern Zaporizhzhia area occupied — has solely cemented his religion in know-how.
“It was a second of reality. When somebody assaults your nation, you do all the things asymmetrical that’s in your energy,” stated his then-advisor Anton Melnyk, summarising Fedorov’s philosophy.
His Ministry for digital transformation took to social media to name out Western corporations nonetheless working in Russia, shaming them into breaking ties.
He additionally reached out to U.S. tech titan Elon Musk to safe Starlink satellite tv for pc connectivity for Ukrainian troops.
His early guess on drones appears apparent now in a battle that has come to be dominated by them.
However to many he was a uncommon and very important early advocate.
In 2023, activist Sergiy Sternenko, identified for his fundraising efforts for the military, posted an emotional video to his two million followers, pleading with the federal government to rapidly put money into drones.
“Mykhailo was actually the primary to name me actually an hour or two after that,” Sternenko, now an advisor to Fedorov, informed AFP.
Inside two days he had been invited to Fedorov’s workplace to debate the difficulty.
“He was the driving force of innovation, together with of drones within the Ukrainian military, even when the Ukrainian armed forces management itself didn’t really need it,” he stated.
Certainly one of Fedorov’s trademark initiatives was a controversial killing-for-points scheme, a data-driven system designed to reward the simplest military items.
Troopers earned factors for confirmed kills or destruction of Russian gear — verified by uploaded movies — that can be utilized to buy gear, with league tables rating the most effective performing items.
Outsmart the system
On the Defence Ministry, he’s set on growing that method.
Certainly one of his first initiatives is an audit of battlefield losses — rating commanders based mostly on casualty ranges, in an try to handle excessive ranges of desertion amongst rank-and-file troops and the unpopularity of mobilisation.
Ukraine “can’t struggle the way forward for battle with an previous system”, Fedorov stated in a press release after his appointment.
He has followers amongst Ukraine’s Western companions, having courted NATO and EU representatives on the Ukraine Defence Contact Group.
“The minister got here throughout as competent, practical, extremely educated, and forward-looking,” a diplomat at NATO informed AFP.
“I strongly consider he can deliver one thing new,” stated one other diplomat at NATO.
“He has the potential to deliver sooner warfare of the long run,” they added.
However having by no means served, it’s unclear if he can persuade the remainder of Ukraine’s conventional navy management, which some say continues to be caught in Soviet-style forms.
“We will attempt,” stated Sternenko, his advisor.
“A lot is dependent upon the navy command however Mykhailo has a imaginative and prescient of find out how to outsmart the system.”
Opposition lawmaker Solomia Bobrovska, who sits on the parliament’s defence committee, and has been briefed by Fedorov, informed AFP: “It’s totally formidable and really promising.”
“It is early… The presentation is one factor, the opposite will probably be actuality. I am actually thinking about how society and the military will react.”
Revealed – March 13, 2026 01:44 am IST