Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a change in the post of Minister of Defense, where Denys Shmyhal should be replaced by Mykhailo Fedorov, the current Minister of Digital Transformation.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Friday that he plans to replace Denys Shmyhal as Minister of Defense with Mykhailo Fedorov, who is the Minister of Digital Transformation. TASR informs about it according to the reports of the AFP agency and the daily Ukrainska pravda.
“I decided to change the structure of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. I offered Mykhailo Fedorov the position of the new Minister of Defense of Ukraine,” Zelensky declared in his daily address on social networks.
The new defense minister
Fedorov is 34 years old and since 2019 has held the position of Minister for Digital Transformation. According to the AFP agency, he is still a political newcomer who is little known even in Ukraine.
“Mychajlo is actively engaged in issues related to drones and is very effective in digitizing state services and processes,” said the Ukrainian president. He did not state the reasons for the replacement of Shmyhal, but plans to appoint him to the head of “another area of the government’s work, which will be no less important for the stability” of Ukraine. He appointed him to his current position in July 2025.
Change in the president’s office
The Ukrainian president also announced that he has officially appointed former HUR military intelligence chief Kyryl Budanov as head of his office. Budanov replaced Andriy Jermak, who resigned after a corruption scandal.
