Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, September 3, announced the departure of defense minister Oleksiy Reznikov, calling for "new approaches" a year and a half into Russia's invasion.
The announcement came hours after Ukraine fought off an attack by Russian drones in the southern Odesa region early Sunday that hit a Danube port on the border with NATO member Romania. "Oleksiy Reznikov has been through more than 550 days of full-scale war," Zelensky said in his daily evening address. "I believe that the ministry needs new approaches and other formats of interaction with both the military and society at large."
Oleksiy Reznikov was appointed three months before Russia's invasion and led efforts to equip Ukraine's forces with modern weaponry from allies. The 57-year-old lawyer with little military experience, usually seen in a green fleece, has become one of the best-known faces of the country's war effort.
After helping hold back Russia's advance in the early months of the war, he spent much of his time in office galvanizing support from Kyiv's allies. Over time, he persuaded them to supply Ukraine with more and more Western-made weaponry including US Patriot air defense systems, heavy tanks and howitzers. Most recently he led efforts to secure US fighter jets.
But his ministry has been beset by corruption scandals. In January, Reznikov kept his job but his deputy was forced to resign after the defense ministry was accused of signing food contracts at prices two to three times higher than current rates for basic foodstuffs.
Zelensky nominated Rustem Umerov, a Crimean Tatar who has been head of the State Property Fund since last year, to replace Reznikov – subject to approval by Ukraine's parliament. The 41-year-old started out in the telecoms business in 2004 and was elected to parliament in 2019. There he served as co-chair of the Crimea Platform, an international diplomatic effort aimed at reversing Russia's 2014 annexation of the peninsula. He has also worked for years as an adviser to the historic leader of the Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev.
News of Reznikov's removal comes with Kyiv's counteroffensive underway and amid Ukraine's general push against corruption in response to EU requests.
Russia meanwhile, continued its military campaign against Ukraine's infrastructure. For weeks now, since pulling out of a key deal that allowed the safe passage of ships carrying grain, it has launched attacks on targets in the Black Sea and the Danube river.
This latest attack came on the eve of a summit in Russia between President Vladimir Putin and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who hopes to revive the grain deal.
Ukraine said Russia had hit the Odesa region with a barrage of Iranian-made Shahed drones. But Kyiv also said that some of the drones hit the Danube area, wounding at least two people in attacks on "civilian industrial" infrastructure.