The head of Zelensky's Servant of the People party, David Arakhamia, announced on Sept. 3 that Ukraine's parliament will vote next week on the dismissal of Oleksii Reznikov and the appointment of Rustem Umerov as Minister of Defense.
Earlier today, President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly announced his decision to dismiss Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and replace him with 41-year-old Rustem Umerov, the chairman of the State Property Fund of Ukraine. The President stated that the decision would be voted on next week.
“I believe that the ministry needs new approaches and other formats of interaction both with the military and with society as a whole,” Zelensky said in his evening address to the nation.
Before his current post, Umerov, a Ukrainian politician and businessman of Crimean Tatar origin, had served as a member of parliament in the Holos party from 2019-2022.
His dismissal comes in the wake of several scandals within the Defense Ministry brought to light by Ukrainian media, particularly involving the procurement of equipment and supplies for Ukrainian soldiers.