Ukraine’s defense minister fires 3 deputies in big shake-up

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov dismissed three of his deputies and a state secretary, announcing a major reform for the wartime defense governance sector.

“Ministry of Defense of Ukraine system — Armed Forces, Main Directorate of Intelligence and State Special Transport Service — is a closed perimeter during martial law. This means that all processes inside must be clear and controlled. Any attempt to influence them, whether external or internal, is unacceptable,” Umerov said in a statement Tuesday.

“In this context, personnel changes are taking place. I signed a submission to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on the dismissal of deputy ministers Stanislav Haider, Oleksandr Serhiy, Yuriy Dzhygyr, and state secretary Lyudmila Darahan,” he added, providing no further details, except that Haider has been transferred to a new position in the defense minister’s office.

Ukraine’s army is struggling for steady defense supplies, as Russian forces grind onward in the Donetsk region, where they recently entered the longtime Ukrainian stronghold of Vuhledar. In addition, the Kremlin’s troops have renewed airstrikes in the Zaporizhzhia region, preparing for ground assaults in that area.

 Umerov also said that Ukraine will start to reform the defense acquisition system.

“Spetstechnoexport is transferred from the Main Directorate of Intelligence to the Ministry of Defense. I set out to complete the cleaning up of the acquisition system in close collaboration with law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies,” Umerov said.

Spetstechnoexport is one of Ukraine’s state defense procurement agencies, infamous for getting into money-laundering scandals.

Last year, Ukraine’s National Anti-corruption Bureau announced the former heads of the Spetstechnoexport are suspected of laundering more than $2 million in 2014-2015, in the early years of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  

The Defense Ministry also continues to reform the State Defense Procurement Agency and Non-Lethal Defense Acquisition Agency (DOT), bringing these processes closer to NATO standards, Umerov added.

“Separate supervisory boards for both structures will be established shortly. The submission to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine will be made this week,” Umerov said.

“Killing of Spetstechnoexport is a perfect move. It was a long battle,” Vitaly Shabunin, Ukraine’s top anti-corruption watchdog told POLITICO.