Verkhovna Rada dismisses Reznikov as head of the Defense Ministry
The Verkhovna Rada has supported the dismissal of Oleksii Reznikov from the position of Minister of Defense of Ukraine, according to MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak.
The decision was supported by 327 members of parliament.
Rustem Umerov is planned to be appointed as the Minister of Defense of Ukraine. He had previously submitted a resignation letter as the head of the State Property Fund to the Rada.
Umerov's appointment to the position is expected to take place tomorrow.
Backstory
Rumors of Reznikov's resignation have been circulating for a long time, especially after a series of scandals involving the Ministry of Defense's purchases of food products and ammunition at inflated prices.
Recently, Reznikov recently offered a bet to an MP and a journalist over a scandal involving the purchase of jackets for the military by the Ministry of Defense. He said that he was ready to resign if it turned out that the department had procured 180,000 summer jackets instead of winter ones. Otherwise, he offered Deputy Anastasiia Radina to resign from her mandate and journalist Mykhailo Tkach to leave journalism for 3 years.
The bet wasn't concluded, while talk of Reznikov's resignation began to grow even louder.
On September 3, sources from RBC-Ukraine reported on changes in the Ministry of Defense and plans for Reznikov's dismissal. Later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed this information.
It was reported that after his dismissal as Minister, Reznikov could be appointed as an ambassador to the United Kingdom. However, neither the President nor Reznikov himself has commented on this information so far.
