Defence Minister Rustem Umerov today dismissed four of his eight deputies, Komersant ukrainskyi
reports.
“I have signed a submission to the Cabinet of Ministers to dismiss the deputy defence ministers – Stanislav Haider (who is moving to the post of head of the minister’s office), Oleksandr Serhiy, Yuriy Dzhyhyr, and Lyudmyla Darahan (state secretary),” he said.
Umerov will announce the new appointments, including deputy ministers, separately.
Umerov explained that the decision to make the personnel changes was made in the context of the fact that “the system of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine – the Armed Forces, the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine and the State Service of Ukraine for Special Operations – is a closed perimeter during martial law”, and therefore “all processes inside must be clear and controlled”, and “any external or internal attempts to influence them are unacceptable”.
The minister also said that the defence procurement system is being reformed.
“Spetstechnoexport (STE) is being transferred from the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine to the Ministry of Defence. I have set a task to complete the process of cleansing the procurement system in close cooperation with law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies,” he said.
According to Umerov, the Defence Procurement Agency and the State Logistics Operator are being reformed to bring them closer to NATO standards.
“Supervisory boards for both structures will be established in the near future. A submission to the Cabinet of Ministers will be made this week,” the Defence Minister said.