Kremlin Says Fedorov Remarks Reveal Deepening Rifts in Kyiv
Kremlin says ousted Ukrainian defense minister's remarks on corruption and war strategy show Kyiv is consumed by infighting.
The Kremlin on Wednesday seized on comments by Ukraine's recently dismissed defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, to argue that Kyiv's leadership is fracturing from within. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Fedorov's remarks about corruption and military missteps were evidence of intensifying political turmoil in the Ukrainian capital.
Fedorov, in an interview this week, said Ukraine appeared to be gradually losing the war against Russia and warned that Kyiv had only a few months to make crucial decisions to reverse the trend. He also criticised what he called entrenched corruption and patronage networks within the government.
Peskov accused European backers of Ukraine of overlooking what he described as the self-destructive behaviour of Kyiv's ruling elite. "Political, or rather, quasi-political, infighting is taking place within the depths of the Kyiv regime, and it is intensifying. The Kyiv regime is collapsing from within," he said.
Ukraine's presidential office responded by noting that Fedorov had expressed confidence in the war effort while in office, and that only his personal circumstances had changed since his dismissal.