Fired Ukrainian Defense Minister: Ukraine Fighting 'Technological War' With Russia

Mykhailo Fedorov sat down with CBS News to talk about a war that, in his view, has become something other than what most people imagine. The 35-year-old former Ukrainian defense minister—the man widely credited with designing Ukraine's modern approach to fighting—sees the conflict with Russia not primarily as a conventional military struggle but as a race for technological dominance. "We need to defeat Russia in every technological cycle, and we have to make decisions 24/7," he said. The urgency in that statement carries weight. Ukraine is innovating at speed, he acknowledged, but so is Russia. There is no pause, no moment to catch breath.

Fedorov's removal from office in mid-July sent shockwaves through Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired him, citing an irreconcilable conflict between Fedorov and Oleksandr Syrskyi, the president's top general. The dismissal triggered mass protests across the country—thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets in his defense. A week later, Zelenskyy removed Syrskyi as well, a move that suggested the tensions ran deeper than any single personality clash. When asked directly why he believed he had been fired, Fedorov deflected. He said he did not want to explain himself to an American audience. But he was clear on one point: "Whatever the reason, it is important to understand that Ukraine will continue to fight."

The record of what Fedorov accomplished before his ouster speaks for itself. He is credited with shifting the momentum of the war in Ukraine's favor. Under his stewardship, Ukraine increased its deep strikes into Russian territory tenfold. He oversaw the expansion of Ukraine's domestic weapons production, building capacity where little existed before. The strategy was simple in concept but radical in execution: use innovation and speed to overcome Russia's numerical advantage. Drones, robots, missiles—these became the tools of a smaller nation refusing to be ground down by a larger one.

On a Saturday in August, Zelenskyy announced on social media that Ukraine had struck a Russian space agency facility in Samara, roughly 560 miles from Ukraine's border, using newly manufactured Flamingo missiles. The strike was a demonstration of capability. In June, a Ukrainian defense technology company had tested a ballistic missile of its own design. When Fedorov was asked when he expected a Ukrainian-made ballistic missile to actually be deployed against a target inside Russia, he offered a timeline: three to six months. The precision of that estimate suggested not speculation but informed judgment.

Yet Ukraine faces a grinding pressure that no amount of innovation can fully ease. Russia's ballistic missiles are proving difficult to intercept. Most of them now reach their targets, a fact that has forced Kyiv into a desperate calculus: build new air defenses faster, or watch Russian strikes continue to degrade the country's infrastructure and military capacity. When asked whether Ukraine could manage this feat, Fedorov's answer was almost philosophical. "It's difficult to predict, but I think everything is possible because we don't have any time to think about it." In other words, the alternative to success is unthinkable, so success becomes the only option.

Fedorov framed the protests over his firing as evidence of something larger than his own career. They showed, he said, that the Ukrainian people remain committed to democratic values and to the principle that Ukraine is fighting for its freedom. As for his own future, he remained noncommittal. A former tech entrepreneur, he offered only: "Soon we will see." But he made clear that whatever path lay ahead, his focus would remain unchanged. "All my work will be aimed at ending the war and rebuilding Ukraine." The war, in his telling, is not something that will be won through attrition or conventional advantage. It will be won by the side that can innovate faster, decide faster, and build faster—and Ukraine, he believes, has no choice but to be that side.