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.

In mid-August, a video address by former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov caused an uproar in Ukraine. In it, Fedorov argued that Ukraine needs to hold elections despite the war and spoke about corruption inside Volodymyr Zelensky’s team. Many Ukrainians, including Fedorov’s own supporters, have called the statements a misstep and criticized him sharply. Zelensky has already said that elections during the war would be a “tsunami that would split Ukraine apart.”