Sackings, 'drone deal' and a 'long war': Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to Sky News

In the ornate baroque surroundings of the Mariinskii Palace in central Kyiv, Volodymyr Zelenskyy handed out honours to military medics and civilian health workers to mark their contribution to the nation's war effort.

We had been invited to attend the ceremony before the Ukrainian president began a wide-ranging interview with Sky News.

As we walked in the palace grounds, Mr Zelenskyy told me that the medical workers were as important to the war effort as the soldiers on the front lines, the people who make the country's weapons, and the farmers who feed the nation.

Dressed in a trademark black T-shirt and black fatigues, the president seemed relaxed, confident and focused on the key issues he has to deal with on a daily basis: successfully prosecuting the war with Russia, ensuring the government and the military work in tandem, and maintaining strong links with allied governments across the world.

Our meeting was arranged on the eve of his latest trip abroad to meet allied nations, and follows a tough week of domestic politics for the Ukrainian leader.

Faced with a deteriorating relationship between his defence minister and the head of the armed forces, he took the unusual step of sacking them both. He believes it's for the good of the nation.

War 'not about one man'

The former defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, is credited by many here with boosting Ukrainian military successes by leaning into new technologies and supporting the production of long- and medium-range drones that are hitting supply lines and oil refineries deep inside Russia and Crimea.

Read more: Russia is the only winner from Ukraine's internal war

Calling for Mr Fedorov's reappointment, thousands of mainly young people have been staging street protests urging the president to change tack.

But President Zelenskyy told me that although he respects both Fedorov and Oleksandr Syrski, the former head of the armed forces, both men would acknowledge that "deep strike" missions into Russia are "not about one man" - that it's a joint effort, with operations led by the secret service, intelligence units, and soldiers on the ground.

He talked about the realities of preparing for a harsh winter season of fighting, and the challenge of mobilisation.

"If you will focus on the important things during this war, you have to understand, first, it's a warrior, it's a soldier," he told me.

"If you don't have a soldier on the front, if he's running back or if you think that you can use only drones and you don't need soldiers, then you will fail.

"Because there [are] infiltrations of the enemy, and if you don't have soldiers on the front, you will lose this territory, you will lose the village, and after the village you will lose the city."

'I don't have time for talks'

I asked Mr Zelenskyy if he would consider reappointing the former defence minister back to his position, as protesters are calling for.

He didn't answer the question directly, but he made it clear that he had no time or capacity to allow workplace disagreements to affect military strategy.

It appears it got to the point that the president himself was the interlocutor between the two men and their departments, such was their level of breakdown of communications.

"I don't have time for talks," he said rather frankly. "Look, I don't have time to listen to one side, then to listen to another side, because two sides are not ready to meet each day.

"And I don't need to find who is right and who is not right."

'We don't have enough missiles'

Mr Zelenskyy said he was fully focused on reaching out to the United States and President Donald Trump, as well as other allied governments, to ask them to continue to supply money and weapons to defend Ukraine and to keep imposing sanctions on Russia.

Air defence remains a priority, he told me, because Russia is stepping up its use of ballistic missiles to target major cities. Just last week we witnessed 40 such missiles fired at Kyiv in a single hour.

"We don't have enough missiles to defend, this is a problem," Zelenskyy said. "[There's] not enough sanctions on Russia's military production; they can increase the production of ballistic missiles, so, and that's why we need air defence as quick as possible."

The war in the Middle East has also impacted Ukraine - they now have a deficit of anti-air capabilities.

"Now I understand the roots of the problem," he said, "I understand that relations between the United States and Middle East countries, and I understand the United State is focusing on the Middle East, but because of this, we had this challenge, and for us, it's a big challenge.

"I try to manage it now with some Europeans and with Americans and with some other countries; this, for me, it's a big challenge, big challenge for Ukraine."

Talks with Burnham set - with 'drone deal' on table

Mr Zelenskyy enjoyed good relations with former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and the UK more generally, and he seemed confident that the close relationship will continue under Andy Burnham, and that talks are already planned.

"I had a phone call, a very good phone call with the new prime minister; I congratulated him," he added.

"We spoke about some basic things, also not with details, because I understand what does mean when you just became the leader; everybody will call you, etc..."

He told me that he wants to repay the British government for help and training given to Ukraine from the start of the war, particularly with regards to drone warfare and protecting against aerial assaults, saying he wants to "open a new page in our nations".

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Mr Zelenskyy wants to make a 'drone deal', and has ambitions to build a big drone factory in Britain, and offer new technologies to share with partners.

"We're ready to share all our experience with the UK, and I hope that the UK will do the same, so we need to make this drone deal very strong.

"I count on it, and also I count - when we will speak, I will say about not only about our needs, how we see our bilateral relations further, what can we do together to strengthen Ukraine and UK."

Ukrainians 'tired' after 'long war'

President Zelenskyy believes that Russia's President Vladimir Putin is preparing to mobilise soldiers in their hundreds of thousands and to send them to the front, conceding this would be a significant danger to Ukraine.

He underlined once again his belief that Putin will only stop fighting if he is beaten: "What we tried to do to make this challenge also for Russians; otherwise, they will not feel that the war is everywhere...

"That's why we started to do everything to respond and to bring this war back to Russia, where it came to us... and that's why we started our mid-strikes and deep-strike operations, just to respond."

The president seemed reflective, almost emotional, when I asked if the Ukrainian people will ever get over the trauma of this war and whether he, personally, will ever get over it.

"I don't know, we have to do it, we have to think more about veterans, about you know hundreds of thousands of people who will come back home, and this is a big challenge.

"Of course it's difficult to do it ourselves, but we will do it, I mean it's only ourselves. But the resilience of people, they surprised everybody in the world...

"People are very strong, very strong, but of course, tired, [it's a] long war."

As this long war drags on into another winter, I got the impression the president remains determined to keep leading his country, if not to an outright victory, at least to a place where its territorial integrity can be sustained.

I finished the interview saying I thought he had one of the most difficult jobs in the world.

He simply smiled.

(c) Sky News 2026: Sackings, 'drone deal' and a 'long war': Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to Sky News