Ukraine's former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov called for a legal mechanism to hold elections during a prolonged war, arguing that corruption and opaque governance were undermining Ukraine's ability to fight and that Russia should not determine when Ukrainians can vote, the Financial Times reported on Aug. 18. On Aug. 19, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fired deputy chief of staff Iryna Mudra after investigators searched her home as part of a widening corruption case involving senior presidential officials.