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Ukraine MPs approve new defence minister after divisive reshuffle / Photo: - - AFP
Ukraine MPs approve new defence minister after divisive reshuffle
Ukraine's lawmakers approved the country's new defence minister on Wednesday, a month after a reshuffle that triggered a public backlash after the dismissal of his popular predecessor Mykhailo Fedorov.
The decision comes a day after Fedorov in a video statement called for a move towards elections that have been put off because of the Russian invasion.
After ousting Fedorov last month and then appointing a new commander-in-chief amid a blistering public row between the army and the defence ministry, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky named Yevgeniy Khmara, a widely respected career intelligence official, to head the ministry.
"Ukraine needs more strength. And it will have it," Zelensky said on social media, hailing the parliament's move to approve Khmara.
In a session on Wednesday, 312 lawmakers voted in favour of his appointment and two against.
Addressing the parliament before the vote, Khmara vowed to "do everything to defend Ukraine, to reduce Russia's war potential as much as possible, and to force the enemy into a just peace."
When appointing him as acting minister, Zelensky had said that "Khmara has gained extensive and, in many respects, unprecedented experience with technological combat operations."
Opposition lawmaker Solomiya Bobrovska, from the parliament's defence committee, hailed Khmara's achievements and said he would be a loss to Ukraine's intelligence.
"We think it is a mistake to take him from the security service to the defence ministry. But as a person and as a military, he is very strong," said
Khmara rose through the ranks of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), serving in some of its most secretive units -- which also means little is publicly known about his personal life.
His official biography omits both his date and place of birth, but says he has been involved in the fight against Russian forces since 2014 and the first assaults on Ukraine led by Moscow-backed separatists.
He headed a unit conducting operations behind enemy lines in Chernobyl after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, and participated in many battles in eastern Ukraine, according to his official biography.
In 2023, he was named to head the SBU's Special Operations Center "A" -- also known as the Alpha unit -- whose personnel have been reportedly linked to Operation Spiderweb, a high-profile attack on Russian aircraft in 2025 that involved smuggling explosive drones deep into Russia.
F.S.Meyer--BlnAP
