Zelensky sacks key aide as pressure on him grows

**Celia Hatton** (0:00)
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Celia Hatton, and at 14 Hours GMT on Wednesday, the 19th of August, these are our main stories. Ukrainian politics and turmoil as a senior member of President Zelensky's team is sacked, and the former defense minister calls for wartime elections. Israel opens up bids to build new housing in the occupied West Bank. And joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises are cut short six days earlier than planned.
Also in this podcast, scientists say they're stunned by how quickly children's lungs can recover in the wake of pollution restrictions, and…

**Alex Summers** (0:41)
One of our gardeners, he stood on it, and he's 102 kilos, which is considerable. I mean, if you imagine, most leaves certainly couldn't take 83 kilos, and this year we've managed to go with 102 kilos.

**Celia Hatton** (0:51)
A special global competition to find the world's strongest giant water lily.
We'll start in Ukraine. We often talk about Russia's war on that country, but today a lot is going on with Ukrainian domestic politics. In the last few hours, Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed a deputy head of the presidential office, Iryna Mudra. No reason was given for sacking her, though that change comes shortly after anti-corruption agencies said she'd been linked to a group accused of money laundering. Those same agencies have been carrying out raids today targeting current and former lawmakers and top government officials. That's all unfolding not long after Ukraine's former defense minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, called for wartime elections, which are prohibited under the Constitution.
In a video posted online, he said Ukraine was facing a crisis of governance and corruption.

**Mykhailo Fedorov** (1:52)
We must answer a fundamental question. How should the state function if the war lasts for years? Can Russia in effect gain the right to decide when Ukrainians will again be able to elect their authorities? I am convinced that it cannot.

**Celia Hatton** (2:08)
Mr. Fedorov was a popular defense minister. His abrupt sacking in late July led to mass protests. Many credited him with overhauling Ukraine's armed forces, tackling corruption and using data and advanced technology to improve Ukraine's standing in the war. Ukraine hasn't had an election in a while. President Zelensky's five-year term as president was due to end in May 2024 However, elections have been suspended in Ukraine while the country's under martial law.
In place since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022
I asked our Ukraine analyst from BBC Monitoring, Vitaly Shevchenko, about the significance of this latest dismissal within the president's office and the corruption rates.

**Vitaly Shevchenko** (2:53)
As our listeners will know, Celia, Ukraine has been battling corruption for a long time. And for many people, the success of this battle determines Ukraine's success of another battlefield in its war against Russia. So today, two of Ukraine's key anti-corruption agencies, they published what they said were excerpts of intercepted conversations between members of what they call a criminal group discussing ways of, you know, laundering money to pay bribes. And they said that this group includes former and current members of Parliament and also an official from the president's office. So on the one hand, it's a setback or an inconvenience at the release for President Zelensky.
But on the other hand, it shows that under his leadership, Ukraine is doing something to combat corruption.

**Celia Hatton** (3:58)
That's interesting. It's all going on as we've also had this call from Mykhailo Fedorov, the former defense minister, calling for fresh elections. What more can you tell us about him and also that call for new elections?

**Vitaly Shevchenko** (4:14)
He is popular at the moment. I've had a look at opinion surveys in Ukraine and at the moment he is Ukraine's third most popular figure.
But that does not seem to be enough for Mykhailo Fedorov to force Volodymyr Zelensky hand on any of the issues that he once resolved, such as holding an election despite what Ukrainian law says. And it says that as long as there's martial law, you can't hold elections.
Mykhailo Fedorov just does not have the political clout to achieve that.
Even though he's shot up in popularity, he is still lagging behind Volodymyr Zelensky. And his supporters, Mykhailo Fedorov's supporters, are still rallying in Kiev and other parts of Ukraine. But the scale at the moment, Celia, it's nowhere near enough to pose a challenge to Volodymyr Zelensky. And also, Mykhailo Fedorov seems to be an outlier in this respect. No other prominent figure in Ukraine or an opponent of Volodymyr Zelensky is calling for fresh elections. Even Mykhailo Fedorov's supporters, they are demanding his reinstatement, not Zelensky's ouster or an election. So my prediction, if I were to go out in a limb, is that that ship has sailed and it is going to blow over.