On September 3, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov was tripped up by an old Ukrainian obstacle: corruption. "I believe that the ministry needs new approaches and new ways of interacting with the army as well as with civil society in the broadest sense," Zelensky said in his evening address. Magnanimously, the Ukrainian president pointed out that Reznikov "has lived through more than 550 days of war."
Reznikov's reputation has suffered irreparable damage, threatening to jeopardize crucial Western arms deliveries. Over the past year, the ministry had been hit by one scandal after the other – exaggerated commissions on ammunition imports, food products, medical equipment and, recently, winter clothing supplied to fighters. Although Reznikov was not directly implicated in illegal profiteering, his repeated denials, aimed at protecting his subordinates, soon became less and less acceptable to the general public.
A debonair lawyer, Reznikov's interpersonal skills were well-suited to building trusting relationships with his Western counterparts, who were sometimes initially wary. According to a source close to diplomatic circles, his reputation as a skilful negotiator could facilitate a new posting for him as ambassador in London.
In the hot seat for the past six months, the minister was only able to hang on to his post for this long because his planned replacement had withdrawn. "Zelensky wanted to replace Reznikov with [military intelligence boss Kyrylo] Budanov," a source close to Budanov claimed. "But Budanov, who is young [37 years old] and ambitious, doesn't want to jeopardize his career by being at the head of such a flawed ministry. He curtly refused, despite a lot of pressure from the president, because Zelensky doesn't like people defying him." Political scientist Volodymyr Fesenko pointed out that "for the sake of conformity and EU-US integration, Ukraine must appoint a civilian to the post of defense minister. But Budanov was determined to end the war in a military role."
After several other refusals, the presidential administration has been circulating the name of Rustem Umerov, director of Ukraine's State Property Fund, since the end of August. He was officially put forward by the Ukrainian president on Sunday evening, and is due to be approved by parliament this week. A Crimean Tatar committed to the cause of his people, a financier by trade and a former member of parliament (2019-2022) within the opposition party Golos, Umerov became close to the Ukrainian president after the start of the Russian invasion. He also accompanied the country's first lady, Olena Zelenska, on a foreign tour in March. His biography shows no close ties with the military, apart from his participation in the working group of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council since 2020, where he was tasked with drawing up a strategy for the Russian de-occupation of Crimea.
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