Overview
- Addressing parliament, Mykhailo Fedorov said the Defense Ministry enters his tenure with a roughly $6.7 million shortfall.
- His remarks were the first public quantification by a Ukrainian official of the scale of desertion and draft avoidance since the war began.
- Ukrainska Pravda reported nearly 290,000 criminal cases tied to unit abandonment and desertion opened by prosecutors, figures reported by media but not independently verified here.
- President Volodymyr Zelensky signaled changes to the mobilization system after meeting Fedorov, who has pledged audits and organizational reform.
- Fedorov emphasized expanding drones, robotics, and electronic warfare, citing about 500 drone manufacturers, 200 EW firms, and more than 20 private missile producers in Ukraine.