Servant of the People Lawmaker Criticized the Army Reform Presented by Defense Minister Fedorov

Roman Kaptelov, a member of parliament from President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, criticized a presentation on proposed military reforms delivered to lawmakers by Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. According to the MP, the minister showed little understanding of the mobilization crisis and failed to answer questions about solving recruitment problems.

“Unfortunately, there was once again no understanding of the situation and no desire to actually solve anything. Colleagues from Dnipro will confirm—we did not receive an answer to a single concrete question. And judging by everything, things will only become harder and worse from here,” Kaptelov wrote on Telegram.

The lawmaker described Fedorov as “a master of presentations, charts, and polished visualizations” who operates with “billions and trillions” and, in his view, is detached from reality.

“And that is the main issue here. Everything looks beautiful, large-scale, and extremely virtual. It creates the impression that the person lives somewhere between presentations and computer simulations rather than in the real world,” Kaptelov said.

According to him, the minister’s presentation made it clearer why Zelensky expects the war to end within six months, while Western partners believe Ukraine can continue resisting for a much longer period.

Sources in the Verkhovna Rada told RBC-Ukraine that the reform package under discussion includes changes to military pay, service terms, and discharge mechanisms for certain categories of soldiers who have remained in the armed forces since 2022.

According to the outlet, over the past two days Fedorov has presented the concept to lawmakers from various parliamentary factions and groups, including members of Servant of the People.

Among the Defense Ministry’s proposals is raising the base salary for service members from 20,000 to 30,000 hryvnias. Soldiers serving on the front line could receive up to 400,000 hryvnias with bonuses included, including daily supplemental payments ranging from 20,000 to 40,000 hryvnias.