Ukraine wartime reshuffle: Chief navy spy to be appointed as defence minister – Nationwide | Globalnews.ca

Ukraine is about to exchange 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 conflict 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 Individuals parliamentary bloc.

“Struggle dictates adjustments in personnel coverage,” Arakhamia mentioned on the Telegram messaging app.

He mentioned that Ukraine’s “pressure” businesses – 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 quick remark from Reznikov.

Requested earlier at a information convention about media stories of his attainable exit from the ministry, the protection minister informed reporters that any determination was as much as Zelenskyy.

Reznikov, 56, turned protection minister in Nov. 2021, only a few months earlier than Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

Through the conflict 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 attainable de jure.

Throughout his tenure as protection minister, he spoke out strongly about wartime corruption, which he mentioned was akin to “marauding.”

However in latest weeks his personal protection ministry turned embroiled in a corruption scandal over a military meals contract that envisaged paying vastly inflated costs.

Considered 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; enhancing by Grant McCool)