Ukraineʼs new Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov spoke to reporters and spoke about the priorities of his new position. Hereʼs his key points.
On goals in war
President Volodymyr Zelensky has set a clear task — to build a system that is capable of stopping the enemy in the sky, advancing on the ground, strengthening asymmetric and cyber strikes against the enemy and its economy. To make the price of war for Russia such that it will not be able to bear it, and thereby force peace by force.
Diplomats are doing their own thing, but we have to do ours in parallel. There are key stages that will lead to this.
The first is a management restructuring. We want to change the paradigm that the Ministry of Defense is just procurement and support. This is the work of civilian oversight and coordination. We need the right dialogue, the right synchronization.
You need to set the right goals. A system that doesnʼt have them starts to get sick. Management should be built around those who are able to achieve the set goals. If people donʼt show measurable results, they canʼt stay in the system.
The second strategic goal is to kill 50 000 Russians per month. Last month, 35 000 were killed, and all these losses are verified on video. If we reach 50 000, we will see what will happen to the enemy. They perceive people as a resource, the problems with which are already obvious.
On the appointment to the position of the head of the Ministry of Defense
I have already gone through the entire "staff" of the Ministry of Defense. We understand very well the structure of the Ministryʼs expenditures and the deficit for this year.
But thanks to qualitative data, we clearly understand where money is spent and where savings can be made. We have all the necessary experience to change the rules of the game.
What results are already available?
We have three consultants: two American R&D teams (Center for Strategic and International Studies CSIS and Rand), the British RUSI. We also communicate a lot with the military. We have the “Drone Army” system. A bonus is the “ePoints” system, which provides high-quality data from the battlefield.
We understand how much manpower and equipment each unit strikes, to what depth, which weapons are effective in combat conditions. We have a large background of military projects that we have implemented.
We have our own combat unit that directly participates in battles. We know about war from the battlefield, not from offices. But war is not only about combat operations, it is also about management, logistics, supply, cognitive warfare.
Back in February of last year, we started working on interceptors. And we even created a real-time R&D format: we allowed all companies that made interceptors to the Chernihiv border and paid them $20 000 for each downed “Shahed”. They began to develop, and the money “went” after the downed “Shahed”.
No one believed it then. But this month, 40 000 interceptors will be delivered to the army.
We opened markets for drones, missiles, electronic warfare, and ammunition, raised margins for companies, and launched “Brave1”, which is now the largest angel investor in Ukrainian defense tech. The “Brave1” marketplace is another game-changer for war. Weʼre also heavily involved in Starlink.
About working with partners
We will strengthen cooperation at all levels, seek additional funding, and offer our value. We will more actively integrate partners into projects.
We will build a system where partners can train their software products using our front-end data. We will build a data polygon to train their AI models.
In fact, our partners are already providing us with significant support, but the key issue remains the issue of organization — and that is what we will work on. We do not expect anyone to save us: we are relying on our own strength.
If we stop the enemy in the sky and on the ground and deal a devastating blow to his economy, we have every chance of ending this war.
About replacing Chinese “Mavic” drones
This month we are already testing a solution to replace these drones. We will have our own analogue of the “Mavic” — the same camera, but the flight distance is longer. We need to develop this direction.
On the mathematics of war
Thanks to “ePoints”, we fully understand what is happening with drones. We will soon launch a revolutionary “Mission control” project — each crew will enter into the system the type of UAV, where it is flying, from which location, etc.
Thanks to “Mission control”, we will close the entire drone cycle: procurement, delivery and use on the battlefield. In “ePoints”, we currently only see reports on task performance, while it is important for us to have a complete picture, with results and accumulated experience. We have been working on the “Mission control” functionality for two years. And the next step is the launch of “Mission control” for artillery.
It is very important that we have started to systematically count everything. Soon we will have complete information on drone crews: managers, their monthly ratings, statistics of the entire corps. We need to see the whole picture to simplify and speed up management decisions.
We have a department of war mathematics, created back in “Brave1”.
About Russian drone operators and the creation of drone assault units in the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Our task is to knock Russian drone operators off the battlefield. To form units that hunt exclusively for drone operators. They are already being created, but we need to scale up the experience we have gained.
The creation of drone assault units is an important initiative. They have a different doctrine for using drones. Recently, “Code 9.2.” conducted a unique operation in Kupyansk. This tactic works, so drone assault units have a future. You will hear more about them.
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