Zelenskyy cannot "instruct" someone to become defence minister. That is Verkhovna Rada’s role, whilst acting minister is appointed by Cabinet of Ministers, – Zhelezniak. VIDEO

MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak has stated that President Zelenskyy’s instruction to Yevhen Khmara to act as Minister of Defence contravenes the Constitution and the laws of Ukraine. According to him, the Head of State has no authority to appoint either a minister or an acting head of the defence ministry.

He made this statement to journalist Iryna Romaliiska during the "Butusov +" programme, as reported by Censor.NET.

Details

"The President cannot appoint a defence minister in principle. He cannot appoint an acting minister in principle. He cannot even appoint the Cabinet of Ministers. If we are talking specifically about Khmara, the same applies to the current acting minister.

There are three violations here, regardless of the candidate’s surname or relationship to the specific candidate," the MP emphasised.

Zhelezniak explained that the President may submit a candidate to parliament for appointment as minister.

"He had the opportunity to do so – but did not. For the whole week, parliament – or at least ‘Servant of the People’ – let it slide. We were even due to have a plenary session tomorrow (17 July – Ed.), but it was cancelled," the MP noted.

It is possible to appoint an acting minister within the Cabinet of Ministers.

"But in this case, it’s the Constitution and the laws that apply; they state that it is the government’s responsibility, not the President’s. The President may offer the post of Defence Minister to any individual, but he cannot order them to take it. As far as I understand, this is not a slave-owning system.

Specifically, Mr Yevhen is an active-duty military officer. And according to the law, neither the first deputy nor the deputy defence minister can be a member of the armed forces," he concluded.

The new Cabinet and Fedorov’s resignation

On 14 July, the Verkhovna Rada supported a resolution on the resignation of Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko. Along with her, the entire Cabinet automatically resigned.
On 15 July, Mykhailo Fedorov announced that he was stepping down as head of the Ministry of Defence.
Prior to this, a number of media outlets and MPs had reported that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wanted to replace him with Ihor Klymenko — the current Minister of the Interior.
Rallies in support of Mykhailo Fedorov took place in Dnipro, Rivne, Zaporizhzhia, Lutsk, Cherkasy and other cities. Participants are protesting against his resignation.
On 16 July, the Verkhovna Rada voted to appoint a new Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The Prime Minister is Serhii Koretskyi.
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.