The Verkhovna Rada is expected to vote today on the ministers of defense and foreign affairs, whose nominees are Yevhenii Khmara and Andrii Sybiha, respectively, submitted by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak reported on Wednesday, UNN writes.
Details
According to him, consideration of the ministers’ appointments in the Rada is not expected immediately after the session begins; two relevant committees, which are responsible for considering the nominees, still have to convene.
"The procedure for appointing a minister takes about 30–40 minutes, something like that; for the Ministry of Defense, it may even take longer," Zhelezniak noted.
"No one really collected the votes," the MP noted, predicting that "there will be around 260+ votes for each of the two nominees." "That is, with a margin, and I see no intrigue," he said.
Context
On July 15, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he had decided to dismiss Mykhailo Fedorov as minister of defense. Former acting head of the Security Service of Ukraine Yevhenii Khmara was appointed acting head in his place.
Later, protests took place in many cities across Ukraine over Fedorov’s dismissal. Activists demanded not only that he be returned to the Ministry of Defense, but also that the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine be replaced.
Later, Oleksandr Syrskyi announced his resignation as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Mykhailo Drapatyi became the new Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
After the resignation of Yulia Svyrydenko’s government, Andrii Sybiha, a minister in the previous government, became acting head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.