Zelenskyy still has not submitted nomination for Defence Minister – Holos MP, serviceman Kostenko

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not yet submitted a nomination for the post of Ukraine’s Defence Minister to parliament.

Roman Kostenko, an MP from the Holos faction and Secretary of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defence and Intelligence, said this in a comment to Censor.NET.

What is known about the vote

According to him, the Verkhovna Rada currently does not know whether a vote on appointing the head of the Defence Ministry will take place tomorrow.

"We hope that the nomination may arrive by the end of the day. After all, our Committee still needs to convene before the vote and consider it," the MP noted.

Committee meeting with Khmara

Kostenko said that acting Defence Minister Yevhen Khmara and his deputies attended a closed-door meeting of the Committee on Wednesday.

"He spoke about his plan and vision for conducting the war. We saw that he had already delved into many issues and was quickly getting to grips with the situation. But the issue here is that if his candidacy for minister is submitted, he must relinquish his military status because the Defence Minister must be a civilian, or the law must be amended. If he is discharged from military service, the vote can be held sooner. If, however, the path of amending the legislation is taken following such a proposal from the president with the support of his faction, it will take more time. But as far as I know, there has been no movement on this either. Khmara remains a serviceman, no legislation has been submitted, so we are waiting for the president’s nomination to see what happens next," the politician noted.

Kostenko also stressed that he would support Khmara’s candidacy if the president submitted the relevant nomination.

Cabinet of Ministers reshuffle, Fedorov’s resignation and new Commander-in-Chief

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.
Rallies in support of Mykhailo Fedorov took place in Dnipro, Rivne, Zaporizhzhia, Lutsk, Cherkasy and other cities. Protesters are demonstrating against his resignation.
On July 16, the Verkhovna Rada voted to appoint the new Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Serhii Koretskyi was appointed Prime Minister.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he would nominate Yevhen Khmara for the post of Minister of Defence of Ukraine. Prior to this, he had instructed Khmara to act as head of the Ministry of Defence.
Protests against Fedorov’s dismissal continued in Ukrainian cities. In addition to demanding that Fedorov be reinstated as Defence Minister, people called for the dismissal of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi.
On 21 July, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Oleksandr Syrskyi from his post as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He appointed General Mykhailo Drapatyi to the post instead.