Mykhailo Fedorov Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography » StarsUnfolded

Some Lesser Known Facts About Mykhailo Fedorov

• Mykhailo Fedorov is a Ukrainian politician and businessman, who was born and raised in Vasylivka, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine).

• In 2009, Fedorov enrolled at Zaporizhzhya National University, where he studied Sociology and Management.

• During his university time, he became actively involved in student leadership activities, and in 2012, during the student Republic Youth festival at Zaporizhzhya National University, Mykhailo was elected as “Student Mayor of Zaporizhzhy.”

•  In 2013, at the age of 22, he founded SMM Studio, one of Ukraine’s early digital marketing agencies.

• From 2013 to 2018, through SMM Studio, Mykhailo Fedorov worked with several business, including Kvartal 95, an entertainment company founded by Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

• In 2014, Mykhailo entered mainstream politics by joining 5.10 party.

• He ran unsuccessfully in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election as 5.10 party candidate, where he was placed 166th on the party’s electoral list.

• From 2015 to 2019, Fedorov served as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SMM Studio.

• In 2018, he worked as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Superhumans, an educational media project in Ukraine focused on entrepreneurship and innovation.

• In 2019, he was contested the Ukrainian parliamentary election on the Servant of the People party candidate as a non-partisan (independent) candidate, and was elected to the Verkhovna Rada.

• After the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election, he became an advisor to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
  

  Mykhailo Fedorov with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

• In August 2019, at the age of 28, he became Ukraine’s youngest cabinet minister after being appointed as the first Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Minister of Digital Transformation in Prime Minister in Oleksiy Honcharuk’s government.

• As Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo introduced the vision of a “State in a Smartphone.” The initiative aimed to make all government service available online by 2024, with many services delivered automatically without the need to visit a government office, that also allowed people to access multiple related service through a single online application.

• Under his leadership, the Ukrainian government launched the Diia mobile application, which later became one of the world’s most comprehensive digital government platforms.

• In 2021, Mykhailo Fedorov helped in making Ukraine as one of the first countries to recognize digital passports through the Diia app.

• In 2022, after Russia’a full-scale invasion on Ukriane, he played a key role in convincing Elon Musk to provide Starlink satellite internet terminals in Ukraine. Two days after his twitter post, Musk responded that Starlink had been activated in Ukraine.

• In 2022, Fedorov helped in establishing the IT Army of Ukraine, a volunteer cyber community that supported Ukraine’s digital defence and cyber operations during Russia-Ukraine war.

• Undre his leadership, the government launched the eAid program in 2022, through which around 5 million Ukrainians received emergency financial support during the war.

• During Russina’s full scale invasion, he co-launched the Army of Drones initiative to produce drones, train drone operators, and strengthen Ukraine’s military capabilities during the war.

• He also convinced Paypal CEO, Dan Schulman to leave the Russian market. The company not only left the market, but also expanded its services in Ukraine and allowed Ukrainians to send and receive money without transactiobn fees during the war.

• In 2022, while serving in the government, Fedorov attended the Digital Transformation Strategy training course at the Yale School of Management, Connecticut, USA.

• On 20 March 2023, Ukraine parliament removed him as Minister of Digital Transformation and the next day he was appointed as the Deputy Prime Minister of Innovation, Education, Science and Technology Development while also retuned as Minister of Digital Transformation.

• On 16 January 2026, Mykhailo Fedorov became Minister of Defence, a position offered to him by the President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on 2 January 2026. By his appointment he also became one of the country’s youngest senior government leaders.

• On his first day as Minister of Defence, he highlighted the challenges Ukraine’s armed force facing, where he revealed that around two million Ukrainians were evading military mobilization and about 2,00,000 soldiers had gone absent without leave.

• In July 2026, Mykhailo Fedorov came into news after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed him as Defence Minister during a cabinet reshuffle.

• His dismissal came shortly after Parliament accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko as part of government reshuffling in Ukraine.

• According to some reports, Fedorov’s removal was believed to be linked to his disagreements with Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi over Ukrainian military reforms, defence procurements, and mobilisation process.

• His dismissal sparked protests in Kyiv, where his supporters praised Fedorov’s efforts to modernise the military through technology and increase transparency in the defence sector.
  

  A picture of people protesting in Kyiv after Mykhailo Fedorov’s dismissal as Minister of Defence