President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has entrusted Yevhen Khmara, the acting head of the Security Service of Ukraine, with serving as acting Minister of Defense and will propose that the Verkhovna Rada confirm him as Minister of Defense. Zelenskyy announced this on his Telegram channel, according to the Ukrainian News agency.
“I have instructed Yevhen Khmara to serve as acting minister, continue reforming the defense sector, and ensure that Ukraine achieves all the results we have discussed. Once the necessary legal procedures have been completed, I will ask parliamentarians to support Yevhen Khmara’s appointment as Minister of Defense of Ukraine,” he said.
Zelenskyy noted that he had discussed with Khmara the conduct of long-range operations against russia and ensuring that Ukraine’s security units and Defense Forces are provided with the necessary resources.
“It is important that we have a strategic vision for how Ukraine should continue to act proactively to defend our independence and compel Russia to engage in diplomacy. Yevhen Khmara has gained extensive, and in many ways unprecedented, experience in conducting high-tech strike operations. This is precisely what our defense must focus on in this war,” the President noted.
Zelenskyy believes that, under the current circumstances, effectiveness in long-range operations, robust security measures that will ensure control over the internal situation within the components of the Defense Forces, and real-world experience in leading personnel at the Security Service of Ukraine’s "Alpha" of the Security Service of Ukraine should become an advantage in the position of Minister of Defense as well.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on July 16, the Verkhovna Rada approved Serhii Koretskyi’s new Cabinet, but without a defense minister or a foreign minister, whose nominations must be submitted by the President for the Rada’s approval. At this time, there are no registered draft resolutions from Zelenskyy on the Verkhovna Rada’s website proposing candidates for these ministerial positions.
On July 15, it became known that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had decided not to nominate Fedorov for reappointment as defense minister.
On July 16, protests began in Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine. People are demanding a review of the decision to dismiss Mykhailo Fedorov and are calling for the reform agenda at the Ministry of Defense to be maintained.
According to members of parliament, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko was the leading candidate to replace Fedorov as defense minister. On Thursday evening, Yaroslav Zhelezniak, a member of Parliament from the Holos faction, reported that, according to his information, Klymenko is refusing to take the post at the Ministry of Defense.
In January, Zelenskyy instructed Yevhen Khmara, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine’s Special Operations Center “A,” to temporarily serve as acting head of the SSU.
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