Shmyhal is the new Minister of Defense
Verkhovna Rada appoints former prime minister Denys Shmyhal as the new Minister of Defense. This was reported by from the broadcast of MP from the Holos Yaroslav Zheleznyak.
The appointment was supported by 267 MPs. Three MPs voted against, 10 abstained, and 25 did not vote. The ruling faction Servant of the people gave 200 votes, 15 – to the Dovira group, 11 – to the Batkivshchyna and Platform for Life and Peace, 10 – For the Future, 9 – Renewal of Ukraine, and one – Voice. Platform and Renewal are mostly composed of former members of the banned pro-Russian OPZJ.
Among the factions, one MP each from the SN and the Eurosolidarity.
The day before, on July 16, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the new government would manage strategic industries through the Defense Ministry. Instead, the current head of the Ministry of Strategic Industries Herman Smetanin will return to his previous position and will once again head Ukroboronprom.
The president called the renewed Defense Ministry's task to increase Ukrainian arms production.
In addition to Shmyhal's appointment, the parliament reappointed Andriy Sybiha.
Shmyhal has held the prime ministerial post since March 2020, the longest in history.
Earlier, on the afternoon of July 17, the parliament appointed as the new prime minister Yulia Sviridenko, former First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy. She is the second female prime minister in the history of Ukraine.
In addition, the Verkhovna Rada voted for a new government on Svyrydenko's proposal: seven out of 13 officials retained their positions.
- Five interviewees LIGA.net from various structures of the Security and Defense Forces stated that Shmyhal would be the easiest to understand the work of the Defense Ministry. At the same time, the head of the public anti-corruption council at the Defense Ministry, Hudymenko, said, if the official does not set a goal to change the agency, the problems will only get worse.
- The former deputy head of the Defense Ministry, Umerov, said LIGA.net that the overly centralized bureaucracy in the ministry hindered the adoption of many, even basic decisions, as the head of the MoD allegedly avoided involvement in day-to-day work.
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