President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appointed former Defense Minister Rustem Umerov as Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) instead of Oleksandr Lytvynenko. This is stated in decrees No. 495 and No. 496 of July 18, the Ukrainian News agency reports.
"To appoint Rustem Enverovych Umerov as Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine," decree No. 496 states.
By decree No. 495, Zelenskyy dismissed Lytvynenko from the post of Secretary of the NSDC.
43-year-old Umerov held the post of Defense Minister from September 2023 to July 16, 2025.
Since September 2022, Umerov has been the head of the State Property Fund. Before that, he was a member of the Verkhovna Rada from the Holos faction. He served as Secretary of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, Deoccupation and Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk Regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the City of Sevastopol, National Minorities and Interethnic Relations. During the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine, he became a member of the Ukrainian delegation in negotiations with russia.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on July 16, the Verkhovna Rada accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. According to the Constitution, the resignation of the Prime Minister entails the resignation of the entire Cabinet of Ministers, including Defense Minister Umerov.
Earlier, Zelenskyy reported that he was considering appointing Umerov as Ambassador to the United States to replace Oksana Markarova. Yaroslav Zhelezniak, a Member of Parliament from the Holos faction, reported on his Telegram channel that, according to him, Umerov's candidacy for the position of ambassador was not approved by Washington and that Stefanishyna is now being considered for this position, and Umerov may be appointed to the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC). On September 17, Zelenskyy announced the decision to appoint Olha Stefanishyna, who served as Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration - Minister of Justice in the government of Denys Shmyhal, to the position of ambassador to the United States, instead of Umerov.
In March 2024, Zelenskyy dismissed Oleksii Danilov from the position of Secretary of the NSDC and appointed Oleksandr Lytvynenko, the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, in his place.
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