Evidence

I attempted multiple web searches to locate independent reporting or fact-checks (Reuters, AFP, Bellingcat, EUvsDisinfo) on this specific claim, but was unable to retrieve results due to tool access limits in this session, so no direct search evidence could be gathered on the claim's substance. Separately, based on well-established public record, Mykhailo Fedorov is Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation — he has never held the post of Minister of Defence (that role has been held by figures such as Oleksii Reznikov and, currently, Rustem Umerov). This means the claim's attribution of the statement to a 'Former Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov' misidentifies his actual government role, which is a red flag suggesting the claim may be fabricated, conflated, or misattributed, though I could not confirm the underlying substance (whether Fedorov, or anyone, made such a statement about Zelensky and Zaluzhnyi) through independent sources this session.