Ukraine’s defense minister resigns after Zelenskyy announces new one

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov submitted a letter of resignation on Monday after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would be replaced and named his successor.

Oleksii Reznikov’s removal follows a scandal around the defense ministry’s procurement of military jackets. It was not the first similar case during the ongoing war.

Zelenskyy made the announcement on his official Telegram account, writing that new leadership was needed after Reznikov went through “more than 550 days of full-scale war.” He named Rustem Umerov, a Crimean Tatar lawmaker, as the new defense minister.

“Reznikov was a good and prominent international negotiator, but it appears that there is chaos and disorder within the Ministry of Defense, which many deputies have taken advantage of, resulting in corruption scandals during the war,” said analyst Volodymyr Fesenko from the Kyiv-based Penta Center.

“All actions of the Ukrainian authorities are geared toward the interests of the war, and scandals and statements about Ukraine’s slow counteroffensive in the face of very limited military resources compel Zelenskyy to be flexible and seek new personnel solutions.”

Reznikov was appointed in November 2021, several months before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In his resignation letter, Reznikov pointed out that it had been “not an easy journey” from his appointment until today, but that he had been part of the process of persuading international donors to give Ukraine sophisticated weaponry, from “the categorical refusal to provide Ukraine with Stingers in November 2021 to the creation of an ‘aviation coalition.’”

Umerov, 41, a politician with the opposition Holos party, has served as head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine since September 2022. He resigned from that position on Monday, according to the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament.

An economist by training, he has worked in the telecommunications and investment sectors, was involved in human rights advocacy and has founded numerous funds to support the rights of Crimean Tatars.

Fesenko said that Western partners value Umerov for this role as head of the State Property Fund, and he is one of the few politicians in Ukraine with direct contact with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Since the full-scale war broke out, Umerov has been involved in prisoner exchanges and was part of the Ukrainian delegation in negotiations with Russia over the U.N.-backed grain deal.

Military analysts say that the replacement of the minister will not affect the situation on the front lines because the minister is not responsible for operational decisions.

Military analyst Roman Svitan said the advance of the Ukrainian army southward towards the occupied Melitopol and Berdiansk will continue without a pause during the autumn-winter period. Therefore, the new minister will need to “intensify negotiations with Western partners of Kyiv and ensure a continuous cycle of supplying the necessary weaponry to the front lines.”

Karmanau reported from Tallinn, Estonia.

乌克兰基辅——乌克兰国防部长奥列克西·列兹尼科夫周一递交了辞呈，此前总统弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基表示将撤换他，并指定了继任者。

奥列克西·雷兹尼科夫的解职源于国防部采购军用夹克衫的丑闻。这并非战争期间首例类似事件。

泽连斯基在他的官方Telegram账号上宣布了这一消息，他写道，在列兹尼科夫经历了“超过550天的全面战争”之后，需要新的领导人。他任命克里米亚鞑靼族议员鲁斯捷姆·乌梅罗夫为新任国防部长。

“雷兹尼科夫是一位优秀且杰出的国际谈判代表，但国防部内部似乎存在混乱和无序，许多议员利用了这一点，导致战争期间出现腐败丑闻，”基辅五角中心分析师弗拉基米尔·费先科表示。

“乌克兰当局的所有行动都以战争利益为导向，而关于乌克兰在军事资源极其有限的情况下反攻行动缓慢的丑闻和声明迫使泽连斯基采取灵活措施，寻求新的人事解决方案。”

雷兹尼科夫于2021年11月被任命，几个月后俄罗斯入侵乌克兰。他在辞职信中指出，从他上任至今“并非一帆风顺”，但他参与了说服国际捐助者向乌克兰提供先进武器的过程，从“2021年11月断然拒绝向乌克兰提供毒刺导弹，到组建‘航空联盟’”。

41岁的乌梅罗夫是反对党“声音党”的政治家，自2022年9月以来一直担任乌克兰国家财产基金负责人。据乌克兰最高拉达（议会）消息，他于周一辞去了该职务。

他接受过经济学方面的专业训练，曾在电信和投资领域工作，参与过人权倡导活动，并创立了多个基金来支持克里米亚鞑靼人的权利。

费先科表示，西方伙伴非常看重乌梅罗夫担任国家财产基金负责人这一角色，而且他是乌克兰少数几位与土耳其总统雷杰普·塔伊普·埃尔多安有直接联系的政治家之一。

自全面战争爆发以来，乌梅罗夫参与了战俘交换，并且是乌克兰代表团与俄罗斯就联合国支持的粮食协议进行谈判的成员之一。

军事分析人士表示，更换部长不会影响前线局势，因为部长不负责作战决策。

军事分析家罗曼·斯维坦表示，乌克兰军队向南推进，目标是占领的梅利托波尔和别尔江斯克，这一推进将在秋冬季期间持续不断。因此，新任国防部长需要“加强与基辅西方伙伴的谈判，并确保向前线持续供应必要的武器装备”。

卡尔马瑙从爱沙尼亚塔林报道。