The government appointed Hanna Hvozdiar as Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Strategic Industries on 22 September 2022, said representative of Ukraine’s government in the parliament Taras Melnychuk.

The Ministry of Strategic Industries is responsible for defense production in Ukraine, while the Ministry of Defense is mainly responsible for procurement and supplies in the army.

Oleksandr Kamyshin, former manager of Ukraine’s state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia, was appointed as the Minister of Strategic Industries on 18 March 2023. The appointment of one of the country’s effective top managers to the office reflected a strong effort to increase domestic weapons production.

In June 2023, Ukraine produced more mortar and artillery shells than in the entire 2022, Kamyshin said in a July interview with Bloomberg. In 2023, Ukraine also concluded several agreements with defense companies in the EU on the joint production of weapons, including the German Rheinmetall.

According to Ukraine’s 2024 draft budget, security and defense are priorities. In particular, state investments in the defense sector are increasing sevenfold and will likely be approved by the parliament.

Ukraine to boost defense production sevenfold in 2024 budget plan

Also on Friday, the cabinet appointed Liudmyla Darahan, a former official at the Ministry for Veterans Affairs, as State Secretary of the Defense Ministry. Darahan will support Ukraine’s new Defense Minister, Rustem Umerov, who was appointed in early September to replace previous Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov.

Russia plans 68% increase in 2024 military spending, surpassing Ukraine’s defense budget 2.5 times