Zelenskyy offered Fedorov post of Ukraine’s prime minister, but he turned it down – The Economist
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered Mykhailo Fedorov the opportunity to head the new government on the day the resignation of Yuliia Svyrydenko’s Cabinet was announced. However, the then defence minister declined the post.
Censor.NET reports this, citing The Economist.
Details of the offer
"On July 12th, Zelensky asked him whether he liked the idea of taking the newly vacated prime minister’s job. Under normal circumstances, this would have been considered a promotion; here, it was perceived as a defeat for his project. The defence minister declined the post, so it was offered to Serhii Koretskyi," the article says.
The publication noted that some Ukrainian generals consider Fedorov someone who takes credit for other people’s ideas. Some compared him to Robert McNamara, the late US secretary of defence who discovered that the management methods he had honed at Ford did not work well at the Pentagon.
Fedorov’s critics in the military acknowledge that he improved drone procurement and digitalisation. However, they say his lack of military experience makes him unqualified to plan the war. Some argued that his flagship reforms amounted to "PR repackaging" of work that was already under way.
"To reform something, you need to understand how it works. Would you really board a plane if you saw that the pilot was a shopkeeper?" one Ukrainian general said.
Background
- On 14 July, the Verkhovna Rada approved a resolution on the resignation of Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko. The entire Cabinet of Ministers automatically resigned with her.
- On 15 July, Mykhailo Fedorov announced that he was stepping down as head of the Ministry of Defence.
- Before that, several media outlets and MPs reported that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wanted to replace him with Ihor Klymenko, the incumbent interior minister.
- Rallies in support of Mykhailo Fedorov were held in Dnipro, Rivne, Zaporizhzhia, Lutsk, Cherkasy and other cities. Participants are protesting against his dismissal.
