Ukraine's president says he will dismiss Oleksii Reznikov and ask parliament to replace him with Rustem Umerov, head of the country’s main privatisation fund
President says he will dismiss Oleksii Reznikov and ask parliament to replace him with Rustem Umerov, head of the country’s main privatisation fundOleksii Reznikov, defence minister since November 2021, has helped secure billions of dollars of western military aid to help the war effort, but has been dogged by corruption allegations surrounding his ministry that he has described as smears.
The decision comes amid a crackdown on corruption in Ukraine that Mr Zelenskiy has been keen to emphasise. Kyiv has applied to join the European Union and the public has become highly sensitive to corruption as the war rages with no end in sight.“I’ve decided to replace the Minister of Defence of Ukraine. Oleksii Reznikov has been through more than 550 days of full-scale war,” Mr Zelenskiy said.
A 41-year-old ex-politician and Crimean Tatar, Mr Umerov has headed Ukraine’s State Property Fund since September 2022 and played a role in sensitive wartime negotiations on, for instance, the Black Sea grain deal. Western military aid has played a crucial role in the war, as Ukraine first forced back Russian troops around the capital Kyiv before launching counteroffensives in the northeast and south.