Mykhailo Fedorov appointed defense minister: priorities, team, and a shift toward technological warfare
On January 14, 2026, the Verkhovna Rada appointed Mykhailo Fedorov as Minister of Defense of Ukraine. 277 members of parliament voted in favor of his candidacy. This appointment became one of the most unconventional personnel decisions in the security sector since the start of the full-scale war not because of the political weight of the position, but because of the management model that Fedorov brings to the Ministry of Defense. Speaking in parliament before the vote, he immediately outlined that he does not intend to operate within the usual logic of the defense ведомство.
“I am taking the position of Minister of Defense not as the minister who built a digital state and created Diia, but as a person whose team has spent a lot of time working on the war since 2022,” Fedorov said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy defined tasks for the new minister on a very broad scale. This goes beyond classic army management and focuses on building an integrated system of pressure on the enemy.
“To build a system capable of stopping the enemy in the air, its advance on the ground, strengthening asymmetric and cyber strikes against the enemy and its economy,” the president formulated the task.
This is not a roadmap and not a plan with deadlines, but a political framework within which Fedorov is expected to rebuild the work of one of the most complex ministries in the state.
First steps and a change of team
After his appointment, Fedorov immediately moved to update the management vertical. On January 19, the Cabinet of Ministers appointed Ivan Turchak as State Secretary of the Ministry of Defense. Previously, he held the same position at the Ministry of Digital Transformation. On January 22, the minister announced the dismissal of five deputy ministers: Anatolii Klochko, Oleksandr Kozenko, Mykola Shevtsov, Volodymyr Zaverukha, and Hanna Hvozdiar. And on January 23, it became known that Valeriia Ionanwas appointed as the minister’s adviser on international projects.
According to Fedorov, Ionan worked for more than six years in the team of the Ministry of Digital Transformation and coordinated international cooperation with Google, Cisco, Microsoft, Palantir, IBM, as well as engagement with governments and international organizations. He also mentioned her involvement in coordinating the Tallinn Mechanism an initiative that allocated €241.7 million to strengthen Ukraine’s cyber resilience. These personnel decisions clearly demonstrate the intention to transfer to the Ministry of Defense the management model developed in the government’s digital block.
What Fedorov considers key achievements
Speaking in the Verkhovna Rada, the new Minister of Defense listed the results that, in his words, were achieved in the defense sector during the period of the full-scale invasion. Among them:
- the transfer of 50,000 Starlink terminals to Ukraine from international partners;
- the launch of the Army of Drones initiative;
- the creation of strike UAV companies (RUBpAK);
- deregulation and opening of markets for manufacturers of drones, electronic warfare systems, unmanned ground systems, and missiles;
- the creation of the Brave1 cluster, which now includes more than 2,350 companies and over 4,900 developments, with more than 730 grants totaling over UAH 2.6 billion;
- the launch of the e-Points system;
- the start of the Drone Line initiative.
This list shapes an understanding of defense as a technological ecosystem rather than only a military hierarchy.
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Priorities of the Ministry of Defense
In his role as Minister of Defense, Fedorov outlined four core priorities:
- conducting army reform;
- improving infrastructure at the front line;
- eliminating corruption risks;
- developing leadership and trust as a new culture.
He separately emphasized that anti-corruption would become the foundation of the renewed Ministry of Defense.
“Anti-corruption will become the foundation of the new Ministry of Defense,” he stressed.
Among the first practical decisions, the minister named an issue that is directly felt on the front line.
“One of the first decisions in the position of Minister of Defense will be to ensure a basic level of equipping brigades with drones, which are clearly in short supply,” Fedorov concluded.
What stands behind this appointment
The appointment of Mykhailo Fedorov represents an attempt to change the logic of how the defense ministry operates: from slow bureaucracy to rapid decision-making, from closed systems to ecosystem-based cooperation with business and partners, and from reaction to asymmetric actions.
At the same time, the scale of the tasks and the complexity of the Ministry of Defense make this project one of the riskiest across the entire system of government. There will be no long “transition period” here: the effectiveness of the new minister will be measured not by concepts or speeches, but by tangible changes in supply, procurement, trust among service members, and real capabilities on the battlefield. It is these indicators that will determine whether this appointment becomes a managerial breakthrough or remains an ambitious attempt to reboot the system during wartime.
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