Ukraines Parliament Approves Yevhenii Khmara as Defense Minister

The Ukrainian parliament has approved the appointment of Yevhenii Khmara as the nation’s defense minister. He has held that role on an interim basis since last month.Members of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine voted overwhelmingly on Aug. 19 to formalize Khmara’s appointment, with 312 out of 334 lawmakers backing him.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy nominated Khmara, who has been acting defense minister since July 16, following the ousting of the previous minister, Mykhailo Fedorov.Khmara’s appointment comes alongside the Verkhovna Rada also approving the nomination of Andriy Sybiga as minister of foreign affairs, who was backed by 266 lawmakers.The parliament quoted senior lawmaker Oleksandr Kovalchuk in a statement as saying that both Khmara and Sybiga “are fully prepared to fulfill their duties.”“These are super-professional people, known in Ukraine and abroad,” Kovalchuk said. “Actually, that is why they received such support in parliament.”In a post on X, Zelenskyy thanked MPs for supporting the nominations.“The tasks for both ministers are absolutely clear: Ukraine needs more strength. And it will have it,” he said.The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine shared a statement on X in which the newly appointed minister outlined his priorities.These include a greater focus on precision mid- and long-range strikes against enemy targets, as well as manufacturing more Ukrainian-made weapons by strengthening the defense industry.Khmara is a former top special forces operative who was the acting head of the domestic Security Service of Ukraine, also known as the SBU.He is best known as the mastermind of Ukraine’s long-range strikes into Russia.Fedorov DismissedUkraine has continued to intensify its long-range campaign strikes into Russian territory, particularly against oil and gas infrastructure and military assets.The Institute for the Study of War said last month that Kyiv’s mid- and long-range strikes were impacting Russian logistics and battlefield operations, as well as causing gasoline shortages in Russia and Russian-held Ukrainian territory.In his evening video address, Zelenskyy outlined his expectations of the Ministry of Defense under its new leadership, saying he expects it to “expand the scope of our deep strikes, together with Ukrainian weapons manufacturers, provide more opportunities to protect the Ukrainian sky and, together with partners, add opportunities to our defense operations and our offensive actions.”Zelenskyy’s decision last month to replace Fedorov as defense minister sparked rare wartime public protests in Kyiv and other major cities across the country.Fedorov’s ouster came amid a major reshuffling of the government, including the dismissal of Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.Fedorov, 35, had been credited with reshaping the Ukrainian army into a more effective fighting force and had championed the use of drones on the battlefield.However, he had also been criticized for failing to deliver on his pledge to rapidly reform recruitment to the armed services in a bid to address manpower shortages.Corruption ProbeKhmara’s appointment took place just hours after Ukraine’s leading anti-corruption departments announced that senior officials in Zelenskyy’s office are under investigation.The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) said they have begun “a special operation to expose a criminal organization that operated under the leadership of current and former people’s deputies of Ukraine, with the participation of high-ranking officials of the Office of the President of Ukraine and other persons.”NABU and SAPO provided few details about the nature of the investigation, but said they would share more later.Zelenskyy did not immediately offer a statement addressing the investigation, but he dismissed Iryna Mudra from her role as deputy head of the Office of the President.The investigations also came a day after Fedorov called for a wartime election, which is not allowed under Ukraine’s constitution while the country is under martial law.In a YouTube video published on Aug. 18, the former defense minister said that “democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia.”“Therefore, we must find a legal, safe, and realistic mechanism that will allow Ukraine to restore a full democratic process even amidst a prolonged war,” he said.Ryan Morgan and Reuters contributed to this report.