Zelensky ‘is losing his credibility in Ukraine,’ says activist

We turn now to Ukraine and. what could be a mounting. political crisis for President. Volodymyr Zelensky. His ousted defense. minister calls for elections. even now, during the war. In a YouTube address, Mykhailo Fedorov. called on his country. to renew its, quote, democratic process. He becomes the first senior official. to do so. Currently, Ukrainian. law prevents elections. being held during war time. Should we not rule about the. what if the war continues. for another year? Two three.

Can Russia effectively. be given the right to dictate. when Ukrainians. can choose their government again? I am convinced that the answer is no. Democracy cannot be held. hostage by Russia. We are fighting precisely. because we want to remain. a free European state. Therefore, we must find a legal, safe. and realistic mechanism. that will allow Ukraine. to restore a full democratic process, even amidst a prolonged war. Federal also called out corruption.

that he says affected weapons. getting to frontline soldiers. Let's bring in anti-corruption. activist Maria Kalinic, who's joining me now from Kyiv. Thank you for being on the program. Can I just first ask you, how seriously. are you taking. any kind of political crisis? In other words, for Fedorov, who's very, very, very popular to come out. and make this YouTube address. How does this really have legs, do you think? Is it what most people believe?

Most people. demand Volodymyr Zelensky. to finally speak honestly to its people. and explain his recent decisions. He found time to go. and give interviews. to many foreign medias. Trying to, find the reason. why he fired. quite effective. and popular minister of defense. But he didn't talk to his people. who have been rallying. in a peaceful protest.

for more than 30 days, demanding to explain. what was wrong with this minister. But, President Volodymyr Zelensky. simply ignored its people. And therefore, that question. about political accountability. of President Zelensky. to its people began to grow and raise. And already. before even the statement. from Mikhailovich Federal. about the need for elections, there were more. and more questions from different, Ukrainians, about elections.

Why, you know, what we can do, in a war time? When our president. is not responding to its people. and when he's not open to answer. complicated questions. about his air decisions. and also about internal corruption, which is happening on a high level. and on his inner circle. So let me talk about that, because it's a constant problem, in Ukraine.

And it's very often. bubbling up the issue of corruption. And you, you know, you've dedicated. your professional career to, combating this. What can you tell us about. how it's affecting the war itself? Weapons, money, this and that, especially for soldiers. who are so beleaguered at the front. with very little rotations. Ukrainian people again and again. confirm in social sociology polls. that corruption is a larger.

security threat. It is equal. to many Ukrainians, to the threat Russia poses. through missiles, drones. and all the attacks in the frontline. Because we understand that corruption. is weakening our institutions from inside. and weakening our ability to resist. It is destroying our ability to hire. a high effective professional managers. who can think outside of the box.

in order to find solutions to the complex. challenges in this war time. And, therefore, so many cases of large scale corruption. happening inside the inner. circle of President Zelensky. and President just ignoring these cases, still, you know, appointing on the highest positions. only people who are loyal to him. or for people of integrity. That is unsatisfactory. for Ukrainian people.

And, in, in Ukraine, we understand complete. is that the elections. during wartime are risky, but the more risky for us, for many of us. is having the president. and having authorities. who are not accountable to its people. As you know, the president. says he is accountable. He's trying to fight this. He fired his closest aide, months ago. And, some people who say. it was practically deputy president.

How do you think Zelenskyy. is going to react to the direct call. by a very popular, politician, Leo Fedorov, for elections? I know he hasn't said anything yet. How do you think he his party, the government, the system will react. While elections. are prohibited in Ukraine, by by the war. and moreover, by the consensus, it was the consensus until this summer.

that, it's. unacceptable to have elections, in a short time. Volodymyr Zelensky himself. was preparing for elections. So we have the only politician. who has all the resources of the state, who is not publicly announcing. that he's preparing for the elections, but he is doing some of the measures. and decisions inside Ukraine. which indicate that he was preparing. for elections, for example, imposing sanctions. against political opponents, triggering and,

discretization campaigns. from anonymous telegram channels, against everyone who is criticizing him. And it includes. not only political opponents, it includes independent media. It includes organization like ours, then appointing people into important, leadership positions in law enforcement. institutions, not in order to, guard. the rule of law, but in order to safeguard his corrupt. in the circle,

attacking anti-corruption institutions. like anti-corruption bodies, which are charging in his inner circle, for corruption. So all that decisions of, Volodymyr Zelensky. are not supported. by the people of Ukraine. They indicate that we have. the only politician. who is preparing for election elections. He is this these guys. in their preparations. But the sociology, the polls in Ukraine show. that such. kind of lack of honest, straightforward,

adult communication with its people. actually is not helping. Volodymyr Zelensky. as he's losing his credibility. in Ukraine. And there are more and more. people who distrust him. Terry Aquilino, thank you very much for being with us. And obviously, we're gonna have to put this again. to President Zelensky. and his inner circle. He just did an interview with CNN, before all this, call by Mihai Lo. Federal for elections. I'm joining me now is Kira. Ruda is a member. of the Ukrainian parliament, a leader of the Hollow's party.

Kira, it's good to have you. First, I want to ask you first. As I often do. Are you safe? Given the reports. we're hearing of renewed. Russian missile. attacks on you on Kiev, on Ukraine. Hello, Jim. Thank you so much for having me. I went up from a bomb shelter. where we hide. During the attacks. There were at least. 15 missiles. that were targeting Kyiv this night. Right now, I think we have a couple of hours. of briefing time, and then,

we know that closer to the. early morning, they usually continue the attack. And this brings me to the point. that at this situation, when people do not know. what's going to happen in the morning, and if we all even would survive. till the elections, it is, absolutely irresponsible. to be calling for ones. knowing that. we cannot, as a state, assure the safety of those elections, and also that politically.

it would definitely to your. the country apart. Well, tell me then. how the Ukrainian public. can respond. to these allegations of corruption. now rising. right up to a senior official. in Zelensky's office. Is it. damaging public. confidence in the government? This is not the first corruption. case, in the closest circle of, President Zelensky. Let's be very honest.

And the only thing. that the public should be doing. is watching, really closely. the work of the anti-corruption organs. Last year, there were massive protests. to defend. the independence of those organs. And they have shown, really good results. throughout this last year and even today, the announcement that they were making. was showing. not only that the corruption exists, but they that they are able. to identify it.

and bring the cases to the court. So in this matter, our position as politicians. should be as well to help. as much as possible. for the institutions to work. and to be really successful. in cleaning up. and making sure that it is not related to. the names of people who are in power, but rather related to the institutions. that are really working. well short of elections. Then is there something. you need to see from. President Zelensky and others.

in the government. to restore public trust, perhaps. without holding election. during World War time. so there could not be elections. during wartime, no matter. if President Zelensky would be. or would not be able. to restore the trust. But he, really needs to consider. or bring up. the new government of the national unity. We are the members of different. oppositional parties. would be represented. We have been calling. for such a government,

for three and a half years, as of right now. And we are really willing. to work together, this is what we are doing, because there is no political party. in Ukrainian parliament. that would be calling for the elections. We know for sure. that our political ambitions are below, and the goal of our country. is that is to win the war, to make sure that people are safe. and that the nation is preserved. Holding for the elections right now. is putting your own ambitions.

above this goal. And this is why, there were so many people who voted today. for the new minister of Defense. And this is why out of 10,000 people. at the protest. to support the minister further of, today, there were only 60 people in the. area who have narrowed down. Let me ask you, before we go, of what are the near-term solutions. to Ukraine's dire shortage of air. defense missiles,

interceptors for the Patriot system. and other systems? It takes so long, as, you know, to manufacture these things. And it does not appear. that the US is going to come. to Ukraine's help. What can you do in the meantime to help? Well, keep people alive. during the missile assault. that is underway right now. There are certain European countries. that have, those ammunitions. for the Patriot missile systems. We know of at least Greece and Spain, that we need to work.

closer and push harder. to, to get them to release those. so we can have them in the meantime, we are trying to explain the countries. that are not at war. may wait. for the additional production of, the ammunition for Patriot systems. while Ukraine cannot. And Ukrainian. people may simply not survive. until the moment. when we will be manufacturing it together. with the partners. Unfortunately, the instability in the world. is such. that everybody's right now. thinking if they can trust the existence.

existing alliances, or that they should preserve. something for themselves. And this is really unfortunate. So we hope that by, by the beginning of winter, our partners will come to mercy. and will supply us with some ammunition. for those, missile systems. And we will have a chance. to survive two of the hardest months.