In a statement announcing his decision, Zelensky said that Oleksiy Reznikov had gone through more than 550 days of full-scale combat.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would fire his defense minister, in the biggest blow to the leadership of Ukraine’s war effort since Russia launched a full-scale invasion, citing the need for a new approach after more than 18 months of conflict. taking the place of There was increasing speculation in Ukraine over the fate of Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov as financial irregularities at the ministry came to light and the government launched a number of official corruption investigations. Zelensky said in a statement that Reznikov, who has not been personally involved in a wide-ranging investigation into the misuse of military contracts, would be replaced by Rustam Umerov, chairman of the State Property Fund of Ukraine. Zelensky said he hoped Ukraine’s parliament, which would have to approve the change, would sign off on his request.
In a statement announcing his decision, Zelensky said that Oleksiy Reznikov had gone through more than 550 days of full-scale combat. I believe the ministry needs new approaches and other formats of interaction with both the military and society at large. The decision to remove Reznikov from the Defense Ministry comes as Ukraine is in the midst of a major counteroffensive, slowly gaining territory in the south and east. Last week, Ukrainian officials said they had captured the southern village of Robotyn, suggesting that the offensive had penetrated the first layer of landmines, tank traps, trenches and bunkers that Moscow had planted between Ukraine’s military and Russian forces. Was stationed in occupied Crimea.
According to an official in the president’s office who was not authorized to speak publicly about the dismissals, the blowout resulted from several factors. They included the understanding that Ukraine would need new leadership as the war progressed, the clamor of criticism from Ukrainian civil society groups and the media over the contract scandals, and Reznikov’s own requests to step down. Although a member of an opposition political party, Umerov, a former investment banker, has held several key roles for the Zelensky government since the start of the war. He was the chief Ukrainian negotiator for the Black Sea Grain Initiative and a key negotiator on the prisoner exchange.