Mihailo Fedorov new Minister of Defence of Ukraine

(Patria) - The Ukrainian parliament today appointed young technocrat Mykhailo Fedorov as Minister of Defence, as the government seeks to boost innovation to strengthen the army in a challenging phase of the nearly four-year war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he ordered the 34-year-old Fedorov to quickly implement decisions to protect Ukrainian skies, strengthen battlefield supplies, and introduce other technological solutions aimed at stopping the Russian advance.

The exhausted Ukrainian army is outmatched in manpower and weaponry on the battlefield. Russian forces are steadily advancing in the eastern Donetsk region and attempting to breach defensive lines in the south and northeast.

With diplomatic efforts to end the war yielding no tangible results, Kyiv needs to strengthen its armed forces, which number around one million personnel.

Zelensky said that "much more significant changes" are needed in the system of military mobilisation.

- Decisions have already been made to ensure a fairer distribution of personnel among combat brigades - Zelensky said.

Fedorov has already played an important role in the high-tech response to the Russian invasion as First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation.

Alongside strengthening defence efforts, Ukraine needs to implement major changes to stabilise the weakened energy sector.

Parliament appointed former Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal as the new Minister of Energy.

His predecessor was dismissed in November after anti-corruption agencies uncovered a scandal in which $100 million was stolen from Ukraine's state nuclear energy company.

Both new ministers took office weeks after a corruption scandal in the energy sector that caused the biggest wartime political crisis in Ukraine and led to widespread public anger at the Ukrainian government.

Following this, Zelensky dismissed several security officials and appointed the popular head of the intelligence service as the head of his office.