KIEV (RockedBuzz via Reuters) – Ukraine’s government fired six deputy defense ministers on Monday following the appointment of a new defense minister earlier this month.
The government gave no reason for the resignation, but such moves are common after the appointment of a new minister. Among those removed is Hanna Maliar, who often posts public updates on Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Rustem Umerov became defense minister less than two weeks ago, replacing Oleksii Reznikov. The ministry had been dogged by allegations of media corruption while Reznikov was in office, although he himself had not faced corruption charges.
“Restart. We (have) started. We continue. (The) Ministry continues to work as usual,” Umerov said in a Facebook post.
The Ukrainska Pravda news site cited anonymous government sources as saying that all deputy ministers resigned voluntarily at Umerov’s request and will not return to their posts.
It said consultations were underway on candidates to replace them and cited a source close to the ministry as saying “a complete review is underway” at the ministry.
Umerov said his priorities include making the ministry the main institution for coordinating the Ukrainian defense forces, increasing the value placed on individual soldiers, developing Ukraine’s military industry and fighting corruption.
Maliar, a war crimes lawyer, had been deputy defense minister since 2021, and his latest update on the war in Ukraine appeared Monday morning.
She came under criticism last week after initially reporting that Ukrainian forces had recaptured an eastern village from Russian forces, but later said her report was inaccurate and that fighting was still raging around the village. His capture was then announced by the military the next day, but Russia has since denied it had lost control of the village.
(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
