Ukrainians marched for a month to get Mykhailo Fedorov his job back as defense minister. Then he released a video calling for elections, and the crowds stopped coming.

Filed 3h ago · Via Meduza · The Buffoon Desk

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Covert Affair

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Diplomatic Security Service from Washington, D.C., United St · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov posted a video calling for elections despite the ongoing war and criticizing corruption around President Zelensky's inner circle, naming no one directly but showing portraits of former aide Andriy Yermak and lawmaker David Arakhamia. The address came after more than a month of street protests by his supporters demanding his reinstatement, and one day before a new defense minister was formally appointed.

Polling shows only 12% of Ukrainians favor elections before the war ends, and Zelensky has called wartime elections a 'tsunami that would split Ukraine apart.' Sources close to the President's Office describe the video as Fedorov's entry into politics after four rejected offers to rejoin the ministry in a lesser role, and note his protest supporters have largely stopped turning out since the video's release.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Turns out the 'cardboard people' were marching for a job, not a manifesto, and once the manifesto showed up they went home. Nothing deflates a grassroots movement quite like discovering its figurehead was running a personal campaign the whole time.

Source: Read the original at Meduza → Scored: Covert Affair · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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