A high desertion rate and two million people avoiding conscription are among a number of challenges facing Ukraine's military as Russia continues its invasion after nearly four years of fighting, Ukraine's new Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said today.
He told parliament that among the problems facing Ukraine's armed forces were excessive bureaucracy, a "Soviet-style" approach to management and disruptions in supplying the army along the nearly 1.000-kilometer front line.
"We cannot wage war with new technologies and with the old organizational structure," Fedorov said.
He said that around 200.000 people have deserted from the army and that around two million people are avoiding conscription.
Parliament appointed Fedorov as the new defense minister today, and he vowed to encourage innovation and reforms to strengthen the military in the war with Russia.
The new 34-year-old minister was previously First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Digital Transformation.
His predecessor as Minister of Defense, Denis Shmyhal, is now Minister of Energy and First Deputy Prime Minister. Shmyhal served as Minister of Defense for only a few months - from July 2025 until the other day - and before that he was the longest-serving Prime Minister in the history of Ukraine - from 2020 to July 2025, when he resigned at the request of President Volodymyr Zelensky to allow for a government reshuffle.
With this reorganization, Zelensky wants to focus the government more on security, defense development, and diplomacy, amid renewed US efforts to reach a peace agreement with Russia.
Fedorov said that the Ministry of Defense has a deficit of 300 billion hryvnia (6,9 billion euros) for its needs.
The European Union will provide the bulk of a major new loan program to help finance Ukraine's military and economy over the next two years, European Union President Ursula von der Leyen said today.
Fedorov said that Ukraine's defense sector has expanded significantly since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022. At the beginning of the war, he said, his country had seven private drone companies and two firms developing electronic warfare systems, and today there are almost 500 drone manufacturers and about 200 electronic warfare companies.
He added that some sectors have emerged from scratch, including private rocket manufacturers, which now number about 20, and more than 100 companies producing ground robotic systems.
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