It was Armed Forces command, not defence minister, that needed to be replaced – "Servant of People" Poturaiev
MP Mykyta Poturaiev, who announced that he would relinquish his parliamentary mandate, warned of a threat to the state if the Defence Ministry’s military and technological reforms are rolled back following Mykhailo Fedorov’s dismissal.
He said this in an interview with Censor.NET.
Consequences of Fedorov’s dismissal
Poturaiev stressed that dismissing Fedorov just as the ministry had finally launched effective changes in the defence industry and procurement was a catastrophic mistake by the authorities.
"The key to victory lies solely in continuing and rapidly continuing, the changes that were taking place at the Ministry of Defence and that Mykhailo Fedorov, unfortunately, also tried unsuccessfully to introduce in the Armed Forces. He tried, but faced rejection and had his efforts obstructed by the Commander-in-Chief, the Chief of the General Staff and other ‘generals.’ This confrontation manifested itself in the persecution of officers who supported and implemented best practices in their units. They were removed from their posts and reprimanded; entire successful units were redeployed from one sector of the front to another," the MP said.
He stressed that this was precisely why he considered replacing the Armed Forces leadership a far more urgent issue than replacing the defence minister during wartime: "I believe this is an entirely acceptable price."
New Cabinet of Ministers and Fedorov’s resignation
- On July 14, the Verkhovna Rada supported a resolution on the resignation of Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko. The entire Cabinet of Ministers automatically resigned with her.
- On July 15, Mykhailo Fedorov said that he was stepping down as head of the Defence Ministry.
- Before that, several media outlets and MPs reported that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wanted to replace him with Ihor Klymenko, the incumbent interior minister.
- Rallies in support of Mykhailo Fedorov were held in Dnipro, Rivne, Zaporizhzhia, Lutsk, Cherkasy and other cities. Participants are protesting against his resignation.
- On July 16, the Verkhovna Rada voted to appoint the new Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Serhii Koretskyi is Prime Minister.
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he would nominate Yevhenii Khmara for the post of Ukraine’s defence minister. Before doing so, he tasked Khmara with serving as acting head of the Defence Ministry.
