The Verkhovna Rada appointed Yevhen Khmara as Ukraine's Minister of Defense
On August 19, the Verkhovna Rada approved the appointment of Yevhen Khmara as Ukraine’s Minister of Defense with 312 votes. Prior to this, he had headed the Defense Ministry as acting minister following the government reshuffle in July.
Before the vote in parliament, Khmara addressed the members of parliament and stated that he had been discharged from military service and was now a civilian.
“I stand before you as a civilian. I have been discharged in accordance with Article 26 of the Law of Ukraine ‘On Military Duty and Military Service,’” he said.
Among his top priorities as minister, he listed:
- strengthening the front lines and quickly supplying the military with weapons;
- deep strike and middle strike operations against Russian military and strategic targets;
- developing Ukraine’s defense industry and increasing weapons production;
- protecting and supporting the military, ensuring their training, and establishing fair rules of service;
- strengthening coordination between the president, parliament, government, General Staff, Ministry of Defense, the military, manufacturers, and partners.
Khmara emphasized that Ukraine must seize the strategic initiative in the war, and that Ukrainian weapons and long-range strikes must play a key role in this.
Earlier, the Verkhovna Rada reappointed Andriy Sibiga as Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Ukraine needs to develop a mechanism for holding elections even in wartime, ensuring the right to vote for all citizens. This view was expressed on August 18 by former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.
As a reminder, on August 18, the Verkhovna Rada received nominations from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to appoint Yevhen Khmara as Ukraine’s Minister of Defense and Andriy Sibiga as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The Verkhovna Rada prematurely terminated the mandates of People’s Deputies Denys Maslov and Vitaliy Bezgin, who were members of the “Servant of the People” faction. Parliament adopted the relevant resolutions at a plenary session on July 17.
