'Umerov Picks His Team' - Why Ukraine’s Minister of Defense Has Changed His Deputies

The Cabinet of Ministers has already appointed 6 new deputy ministers to support the current head of the Ministry of Defense Rustem Umerov, after Anna Malyar and other well-known individuals were dismissed on Sept. 18.

On Thursday the Cabinet approved the appointment of three new deputies: Ivan Havrilyuk, Dmitry Klimenkov and Stanislav Haider. This followed the earlier nomination of three others made at the end of September: Yuri Dzhyhyr, Natalya Kalmykova and Kateryna Chernohorenko. 

Their most important task, the minister says, is to ensure proper respect is shown for the dignity of soldiers in every interaction with the state.

Ukrainian political scientist Volodymyr Fesenko explained to the Kyiv Post that the appointment of these particualr individuals by the minister has been carefully considered.

“These are not people plucked from the street. It's not like it often happened [before] that someone who was good at writing on social networks was appointed as a minister or deputy minister,” Fesenko says. 

According to the political scientist, all new deputies offered some relevant experience, including managerial skills. As an example, Fesenko cites the new deputy for digital development, Kateryna Chernohorenko.

“She worked in the Ministry of Digital Transformation and was involved in the Army of Drones project," he says. "Previously there was inconsistency of where responsibility lay between ministries. And now it will be done where it should be."

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Fesenko also notes that some of these newly elected deputies worked earlier with Rustem Umerov, which leads to the conclusion that “he is forming his team.”

“The main thing is that Umerov is rebooting the leadership of his ministry,” he says.

According to Fesenko, the former Minister of Defense, Oleksiy Reznikov had a completely different strategy: “Reznikov came and worked with those who were already appointed. It wasn't his team."

One of the main tasks set before Umerov is to organize work in the middle ranks of the Ministry of Defense. 

“The main task is to restore order in the middle of the ministry, and especially in the procurement authorities, and not only groceries, but also in arms.”

The new deputy head of the Ministry of Defense for procurement, Dmitry Klimenkov, previously worked as commercial director of Ukrtransgaz JSC, during which he managed to exceed the targets for gas injection into underground storage facilities by more than 50% and increase the number of non-resident customers by 15%.

Prior to that, he served as the first deputy head of the SPF, director of infrastructure and logistics at Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) and was head of major projects at the Swedish company Erickson.

Fesenko added that “By picking his own team, Umerov will be able to achieve the appropriate goals [he has been set].”