The “Servant of the People” party revealed who Zelenskyy plans to nominate to the Verkhovna Rada for the position of defense minister
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Ukraine's political leadership is determined to nominate Yevhen Khmara for the position of defense minister.
This was reported by Anastasia Radina, chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy and a member of parliament from the “Servant of the People” faction, in an interview for the “Coffee Break” project on “Shelter.”
My personal position remains unchanged: I think the best option would still be to resubmit [Mykhailo] Fedorov’s nomination for Minister of Defense, and I am almost certain that parliament will support this nomination. As for my own sense of the mood among my colleagues more broadly, unfortunately, I still predict that it seems unlikely at this point that Fedorov’s nomination will be put forward. And, accordingly, as far as I know, at least, the intention remains to nominate [Yevhen] Khmara for the position of Minister of Defense—on a full-time basis, not as an acting minister, but by a decision of the Verkhovna Rada
Anastasia Radina Member of Parliament from the “Servant of the People” faction
According to Article 15 of the Law “On National Security of Ukraine,” the Minister of Defense of Ukraine and his deputies are appointed from among civilians. Yevhen Khmara is a Ukrainian military commander, major general, former head of the “A” Special Operations Center within the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), and former acting head of the Security Service of Ukraine. Radina believes that “this will not be an obstacle” to his appointment as defense minister.
He can resign from the military. There is a procedure for this… The Defense Law is written in such a way that a military officer cannot serve as defense minister—not because the person simply does not have epaulets on their shoulders, but simply because they must be removed before entering the Verkhovna Rada chamber for the appointment.
Anastasia Radina Member of Parliament from the “Servant of the People” faction
Radina notes that the logic behind the law is to ensure civilian control over the military; therefore, if Khmara is appointed Minister of Defense, the question of compliance with this legal requirement will remain open.
A new episode of the “Coffee Break” series featuring People’s Deputy Anastasia Radina will be released on the “Shelter” media outlet’s YouTube channel in the near future.
As a reminder, on July 14, the Verkhovna Rada approved the resignation of Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and automatically dismissed the entire Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine she headed. Starting on July 16, protests began in Kyiv and several other Ukrainian cities as citizens expressed their opposition to the dismissal of Mykhailo Fedorov from the post of defense minister.
Subsequently, protesters also demanded the dismissal of Oleksandr Syrskyi from his post as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. On July 21, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed him. Instead, the head of state appointed Mykhailo Drapaty as Commander-in-Chief.
Author
Iryna Mazipchuk managing editor
All materialsShe studied at the School of Journalism at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. She has been working in journalism since 2011. She has worked for the television channels Channel 5, PravdaTUT, STB and ZIK.