Ukraine wartime reshuffle: Chief military spy to be appointed as defence minister – National | 24CA News
Ukraine is about to switch Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov with the chief of its navy spy company, a detailed ally of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned on Sunday, in a reshuffle on the forefront of Ukraine’s battle marketing campaign.
Reznikov can be transferred to a different ministerial job and changed by Kyrylo Budanov, head of the GUR navy intelligence company, mentioned David Arakhamia, a senior lawmaker and chief of Servant of the People parliamentary bloc.
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“War dictates changes in personnel policy,” Arakhamia mentioned on the Telegram messaging app.
He mentioned that Ukraine’s “force” companies – just like the protection ministry – shouldn’t be headed by politicians, however by profession protection or safety officers.
Arakhamia didn’t say when the transfer can be formalized. There was no instant remark from Reznikov.
Asked earlier at a news convention about media stories of his potential exit from the ministry, the protection minister advised reporters that any determination was as much as Zelenskyy.
Reznikov, 56, turned protection minister in Nov. 2021, just some months earlier than Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
During the battle he fostered relationships with Western protection officers and helped oversee the receipt of billions of {dollars} of navy help – together with rocket launchers and tanks – to assist Kyiv fend off the Russian invasion.
As a wartime protection minister, Reznikov singled out Ukraine’s “de facto” integration into the NATO navy alliance as a prime precedence, even when becoming a member of the bloc was not instantly potential de jure.
During his tenure as protection minister, he spoke out strongly about wartime corruption, which he mentioned was akin to “marauding.”
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But in latest weeks his personal protection ministry turned embroiled in a corruption scandal over a military meals contract that envisaged paying vastly inflated costs.
One of his deputy ministers has been fired and named a suspect within the scandal, and one other one has since resigned individually.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Tom Balmforth; modifying by Grant McCool)
