The Verkhovna Rada has dismissed Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov. 327 MPs voted in favor.
Reznikov was present in the parliamentary hall at the time of the vote. The minister gave a report on the work of the ministry and answered MPs questions as some MPs published online.
After the voting, Reznikov posted a speech to the parliament on Facebook. He said that since the start of the full-scale invasion, "the Ministry of Defence has been moving in parallel on two related tracks: the first is repelling the enemy and securing the front, and the second is reforms to make our army stronger and more interoperable with NATO armies.
Reznikov said that according to the General Staff, the armed resources of the Defence Forces would have lasted for two or 2.5 months of intense fighting, after which "the army would have physically run out of steam."
"We were extracting everything that was possible and impossible," he assured.
According to him, over 18 months, the Defence Forces have purchased, manufactured, and received the following equipment as materiel for the Defence Ministry:
- more than 7 million artillery shells, mines, tank and MLRS rounds
- over 4,000 artillery systems and mortars
- about 3,500 systems that protect our sky - from MANPADS to Patriot
- more than 6,500 tanks, armored vehicles and armored personnel carriers
- more than 2,000 trucks.
- "countless" small arms, radars, engineering equipment, various types of missiles, helicopters, evacuation vehicles and much more
"More than 30 models of Ukrainian drones have been put into operation. Production has increased more than 100 times and is growing. Relying on Ukrainian drones has always been my principled position. Ukraine can be a global leader in this segment. That is why I decided to establish a Competence Center for Robotic Platforms," he added.
According to the MPs, they will vote for Rustem Umerov's candidacy at the next meeting.
Reznikov became Defence Minister in November 2021, and before that he headed the Ministry for the Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories and was Deputy Prime Minister. Before joining the Cabinet, Reznikov practiced law and was a representative in the political subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group.
He began his career as a co-founder of a brokerage company, and in 2004 he received his lawyer's license. In 2008, he became a member of the Kyiv City Council and was re-elected in 2014. Since June 2014, he has been Deputy Mayor and Secretary of the Kyiv City Council.
From 2016 to 2018, he was Deputy Head of the Kyiv City State Administration, responsible for organising the Eurovision Song Contest and the Champions League final match in Kyiv.
Reznikov wrote his resignation yesterday, on 4 September, the day after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the decision to replace the Defence Minister in his evening address. The president said that "the ministry needs new approaches and other formats of interaction with both the military and society as a whole."
The next minister is to be Rustem Umerov, a former MP from the Voice party and former head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine.