Zelenskyy Has Not Yet Submitted Proposals to the Rada for the Appointment of the Defense and Foreign Ministers, Says Zheleznyak
As of the morning of August 18, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had not yet submitted nominations to the Verkhovna Rada for the positions of defense minister and foreign minister.
There is currently no information on whether such nominations will be submitted this week.
“The latest update from the Coordination Council is that no nominations for ministers have been submitted. It is unknown whether any will be submitted this week at all (I already wrote that they will be processed quickly once submitted. — Y.Z.). The Rada leadership has received no details on this from the President,” Zheleznyak wrote.
On August 18, the Verkhovna Rada resumes work after a recess. At the same time, according to media reports, parliament will not consider the appointments of new heads of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on that day, as the presidential nominations have not yet been received.
In July, the Verkhovna Rada dismissed Mykhailo Fedorov from the post of Minister of Defense and Andriy Sibiga from the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs; however, no new heads of these ministries were appointed at that time.
According to Yaroslav Zheleznyak, if the nominations are submitted in the coming days, parliament could quickly move on to considering them. If this does not happen, personnel matters may be postponed until the Rada’s next session.
Andriy Sibiga, who is currently serving as acting head of the ministry, remains one of the possible candidates for the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs. Oleksandr Merezhko, chairman of the parliamentary committee on foreign policy, stated that if the president nominates him, he has a strong chance of receiving support in the Verkhovna Rada.
The final nominations for the positions of Minister of Defense and Minister of Foreign Affairs have not yet been submitted to parliament.
This was reported by Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a member of parliament from the “Holos” party.
Earlier, it was reported that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had not submitted to the Verkhovna Rada nominations for the permanent heads of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Previously, the Cabinet of Ministers appointed Mykola Shvydkyi as Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine.
Former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov stated that he has no moral right to engage in any other matters except to return to his post.
