Fedorov says Zelenskyy offered him adviser role to keep him on the team

Ukraine's Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has revealed that during a conversation with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on 15 July, the president offered him a position as an adviser, which he declined.

Source: live broadcast of Fedorov's briefing on 16 July

Quote from Fedorov: "I had a normal conversation with the president yesterday. He offered me the role of adviser or to find some other way for me to remain on the team. I declined the adviser role. My goal was never to become a minister, remain a minister, or look for positions and so on."

Details: Fedorov suggested that the president had likely already made his decision on the personnel changes during that conversation. "But today my task is to show what we have achieved and to speak about the risks that lie ahead of us," the defence minister said.

Fedorov also pointed out that he has spent up to seven years working in the country's "hottest spots" of transformation, wherever he was assigned, and has never been involved in corruption or corrupt schemes.

"But today this is not about me. Today it is about all of us. Will we close our eyes and say, 'OK, let everything stay as it was,' or will we say, 'Stop'... Ukrainians now have all the tools they need to stop the enemy, and we must not become like the Russians. We have to change our approach, and we have to tell the truth," he said.

Previously:

• Earlier, Fedorov summed up his tenure, outlined what he had not managed to accomplish and said he will continue his mission to "defeat the enemy through asymmetry, the speed of innovation and the power of organisation".
• On 16 July, protests in support of Fedorov are taking place near the President's Office in Kyiv and in several other cities across Ukraine.

Background:

• On 14 July, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) approved Yuliia Svyrydenko's resignation as prime minister, a decision which entails the resignation of the entire government.
• According to Ukrainska Pravda sources, the authorities planned to form the new government on 15 July. The parliament is expected to vote on the new Cabinet on 16 July.
• According to Ukrainska Pravda sources within the Servant of the People parliamentary faction, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will not put Fedorov forward for the post of defence minister. Instead, he is expected to nominate Ihor Klymenko, who is currently serving as acting Interior Minister.
• Sources in the faction also say Fedorov remains on the president's team, "but what he will do next will become clearer next week".

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