Government reshuffle: will the replacement of the defense minister harm Ukraine
Kyiv • UNN
After the government's resignation due to the dismissal of Prime Minister Svyrydenko, the future of Defense Minister Fedorov is uncertain. President Zelenskyy has not yet made a decision, and among the possible candidates are Klymenko and Budanov.
After the resignation of the Cabinet of Ministers along with Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, the intrigue surrounding the new composition of the government has only intensified. The biggest questions currently revolve around the future of the Minister of Defense. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not yet made a decision regarding Mykhailo Fedorov, while among the possible candidates are Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko and Head of the Presidential Office Kyrylo Budanov. Experts note that they would like to have a minister who will stay in office for a long time, and also emphasize that any potential future replacement for Fedorov must definitely not harm the state, writes UNN.
Details
After the Verkhovna Rada dismissed Yulia Svyrydenko from the post of Prime Minister, government ministers automatically resigned, because according to the Constitution of Ukraine, the resignation of the Prime Minister entails the resignation of the entire government.
The main and only candidate for the post of Prime Minister is the head of the board of NJSC "Naftogaz" Serhiy Koretskyi, who on Wednesday presented his vision of the government's work to the "Servant of the People" faction.
However, if Koretskyi will appoint ministers to positions, then according to the Constitution, the appointment of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Defense is made upon the submission of the President of Ukraine.
Therefore, Fedorov's reappointment to the post is currently up in the air. As reported by MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak, the decision on the appointment of the Minister of Defense will be made on Tuesday evening, so it is currently unknown whether Mykhailo Fedorov will remain in his position.
President Zelenskyy himself stated that he has not yet made a decision on whether Mykhailo Fedorov will hold the post of Minister of Defense in the new Cabinet of Ministers.
Some MPs claim that the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko, or the Head of the Presidential Office Kyrylo Budanov, could be appointed to the post of Minister of Defense.
However, according to the regulation "On the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine", the Ministry of Defense is headed by a minister who is appointed to the post from among civilians upon the submission of the President of Ukraine and dismissed from the post by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
Kyrylo Budanov, who was appointed Head of the Presidential Office in January, and before that headed the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, holds the rank of Lieutenant General of the GUR.
Svyrydenko may head the OP, and Budanov - the Ministry of Defense - MP14.07.26, 15:50 • 10423 views
Also note that this will be the fourth reappointment of the Minister of Defense since the start of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine. Previously, this position was held by Oleksii Reznikov, Rustem Umerov, and Denys Shmyhal.
In a comment to UNN, Deputy Director of the analytical center "Politics" Artem Bronzhukov noted that he does not associate the possible non-appointment of Fedorov as Minister of Defense with his growing popularity, which could increase his rating and bypass President Zelenskyy.
Of course, Mykhailo Fedorov is one of the most popular representatives of the government in general, but his personal rating is in no way comparable to the ratings of Zelenskyy himself, Budanov, or Zaluzhnyi. Therefore, this statement definitely cannot be agreed with
In his opinion, most of the replacements that were made earlier were guided solely by the desire to increase the effectiveness of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
I would like to have a minister who will stay in office for a long time. But I think that most of the replacements we have seen before, Zelenskyy was guided, first of all, by the desire to increase the effectiveness of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Of course, overall, if we compare the previous candidates and today's ones, Fedorov looks the most effective. At the time of his tenure, it was possible to negotiate, for example, with Elon Musk, and the Russians had Starlink turned off. Plus, we see truly great successes in drones, which have become quite common over the last six months, but these results are truly impressive. Therefore, when we talk about rotations, of course, we must understand that a potential replacement must definitely not harm the state
He emphasizes that Fedorov stands out against the background of his predecessors precisely because of his clear vision and understanding of how the Armed Forces should develop, namely in the context of their effectiveness, which is based on Big Data, which is a sign of such a modern, innovative approach that looks very high-quality even globally.
Answering the question about whether Fedorov's resignation could stop the procurement and defense technology reform he started, the expert stated that this fear is 100% justified
Overall, there is great concern about a rather unexpected potential change of the Minister of Defense, and I would like to see a situation where he is given the opportunity to bring all initiatives to their logical conclusion
Also, in the context of aid from partners, whether replacing Fedorov could affect military aid packages, Bronzhukov noted that, first of all, this is the authority and responsibility of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Defense ministers already play a secondary role there. Although, of course, if we talk about building long-term, trusting, clear relationships, it is better to have one person who has a positive image and good connections with our Western partners. Of course, this all only plays in favor of building stable coalitions that positively affect the provision of our army with aid from partners