Zelenskyy Nominates Khmara as Defense Minister and Sybiga as Foreign Minister

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has submitted nominations to parliament to appoint Yevhenii Khmara as Minister of Defense and Andrii Sybiha as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

This was reported by UP.

Source: Holos MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak on Telegram, European Solidarity MP Iryna Herashchenko on Telegram, and Speaker of Parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk on Facebook.

Zhelezniak’s direct quote: “Zelenskyy has submitted nominations for Khmara and Sybiha to parliament.”

Details: According to the MP, parliament is expected to vote on the two nominees for the Defense and Foreign Affairs ministries on Wednesday, August 19.

Earlier, Zhelezniak reported that MPs had been sent a schedule of meetings with the two candidates by parliamentary factions and groups on Tuesday.

Iryna Herashchenko also confirmed that the nominations had been submitted. She added that relevant parliamentary committee meetings are expected to take place before the vote in the chamber.

At the same time, as of 4:20 p.m., the relevant documents were not available on the official website of the Verkhovna Rada.

Updated: Verkhovna Rada Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk officially confirmed that the nominations of Khmara and Sybiha had been submitted.

According to him, the Verkhovna Rada will consider the nominations “in the near future in accordance with the Constitution of Ukraine and the established parliamentary procedure.”

Background: Under Ukrainian law, the position of Minister of Defense may be held exclusively by a civilian. Khmara is a Ukrainian military commander and a major general of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

Background:

On July 12, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there was a need to renew the Cabinet of Ministers and announced changes to the leadership of law enforcement agencies. On July 14, the Verkhovna Rada backed the resignation of Yulia Svyrydenko as prime minister. The decision resulted in the resignation of the entire government.

Public discontent was sparked by what many considered the unjustified dismissal of Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. Since July 16, rallies calling for Fedorov to be reinstated have been held in many cities across the country.

The president offered Fedorov a number of other positions, but he turned them down, saying he wanted to focus his efforts on continuing the reform of the Ministry of Defense.

Zelenskyy appointed Yevhenii Khmara to temporarily head the Ministry of Defense. Khmara had previously served as acting head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) following Vasyl Malyuk’s resignation.