Ukraine’s defence minister submits resignation letter

France24

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Monday he had submitted his resignation letter to the chairman of parliament, in the biggest shakeup of the defence establishment since Russia invaded in February 2022. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced late on Sunday he had decided to replace his wartime defence minister and proposed Rustem Umerov, a Crimean Tatar who heads the State…

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov has submitted his resignation in the biggest shakeup of the defence establishment in 18 months of war with Russia.

Mr Reznikov has been at the forefront of Ukraine’s lobbying for foreign weapons to fight Russia’s invasion but his departure after months of corruption allegations against his ministry is not expected to have a big effect on military operations.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday (local time) he was sacking Mr Reznikov and proposed Rustem Umerov, a Crimean Tatar and ex-MP who runs the State Property Fund, to replace him.

Mr Reznikov, who took office in 2021, has helped Ukraine secure billions of dollars’ worth of foreign military aid since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

Ukraine has received weapons including German battle tanks, HIMARS rocket launchers from the United States and Storm Shadow cruise missiles from the United Kingdom to push back Russian forces, and is poised to receive US F-16 fighter jets soon.

“Reznikov did an amazing job building up a relationship with other ministers and other ministries,” Andriy Zagorodnyuk, defence minister from 2019-20, told Reuters.

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