Volodymyr Zelenskyy

On 15 July, Zelenskyy dismissed Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov after meeting military leaders. The decision made the president the author of a wider change in Ukraine’s wartime leadership, rather than merely its political sponsor.

On 21 July, he removed Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi and appointed Mykhailo Drapatyi. A further change to the general staff followed on 22 July, after protests in eight cities had put public pressure on the command structure. The sequence tied Zelenskyy’s authority directly to the performance of the new military leadership.

On 28 March, Zelenskyy said that about ten Ukrainian drone factories had been established abroad. His disclosure presented wartime production knowledge as a national asset that Ukraine could place beyond Russian strike range and turn into industrial partnerships.

On 1 June, he announced plans for ten Ukrainian weapons-export offices in EU states by the end of 2026. The proposal put Zelenskyy’s presidency behind a shift from seeking weapons alone to selling combat-tested systems and expertise to European partners.

On 5 September, Zelenskyy offered to meet Vladimir Putin at the December G20 summit in Miami after US envoys met Putin in Moscow and Zelenskyy in Kyiv. The offer kept a leaders’ meeting available as a Ukrainian objective despite no announced result from the Moscow talks.

On 12 September, Russia said it would negotiate without pausing military operations. For Zelenskyy, the gap between an offered summit and Russia’s stated position left diplomacy open but without an agreed route to halt the fighting.