Fedorov threatens to “punish” organizers of criticism and raises possibility of protest radicalization

Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has said that his position and the protest actions demanding his reinstatement as defense minister could radicalize by mid-August.

He made the statement in an interview with his former adviser Serhiy Sternenko.

Fedorov named August 18 as the key date — the day when parliament is due to return from recess and vote on a new defense minister.

“If our shared goal is to stop the war, then we are fighting for me to have the authority to do that as defense minister. We have a point at which we will understand whether that has succeeded or not,” Fedorov said.

“The deadline for appointing a defense minister is August 18, when the Rada convenes,” he clarified.

In addition, Fedorov threatened to deal with those organizing a campaign of criticism against him. According to him, “media attacks” are being waged against him by various Telegram channels.

“The question is whether such large media resources can carry out this kind of work if no one is covering for them. There are a large number of people who could be behind this — I am certain we will find out who they are. I am doing certain work in that direction. And these people need to be punished,” Fedorov stated.

The Telegram channel “Trukha” and its affiliated pages, as well as a number of other major Telegram channels, have been among the most active critics of Fedorov in recent times. They are considered to be close to President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

A picket demanding Fedorov’s return to the Ministry of Defense has continued in Kyiv for three weeks in a row, as our website previously reported.