The head of the «Return Alive» foundation, Taras Chmut, stated that after the possible resignation of Oleksandr Syrsky, approximately 5-7 candidates are applying for two key positions for the Defense Forces — Commander-in-Chief and Chief of the General Staff, of which he named 4.
The head of the «Return Alive» foundation, Taras Chmut, stated that after the possible resignation of Oleksandr Syrsky, approximately 5-7 candidates are applying for two key positions for the Defense Forces — Commander-in-Chief and Chief of the General Staff, of which he named 4.
Chmut said this in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda.
«I had many conversations with intelligent people in this country, and it is obvious that different surnames were discussed. We don’t have very many of these surnames, it’s about 5-7 people maximum,» Chmut stated.
Among them, he named the commander of the joint forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Major General Mykhailo Drapaty, the head of the 3rd Army Corps, Brigadier General Andriy Biletsky, the commander of the Airborne Assault Forces, Major General Oleg Apostol, and the commander of the 2nd Corps of the Charter National Guard, Colonel Igor Obolensky, as the main contenders for the position of commander-in-chief.
In general, Chmut considers such a small number of applicants for key positions for the country’s defense to be abnormal, because, in his opinion, Ukraine has a large number of worthy commanders who are not allowed to hold high positions.
«We have 4 people. And we need to replace the commander-in-chief and the chief of the General Staff. That is, we need to remove 2 out of 4. This is an abnormal system that the state has built over many years, when there are so few people who can take on such responsible high positions,» he emphasized.
At the same time, regarding the change of the Minister of Defense, the head of the «Return Alive» foundation said that he was surprised by the appointment of Yevheniy Khmara to this position.
«I am surprised by this appointment, because his previous position was acting head of the Security Service of Ukraine. And for some reason he was not appointed to this position for six months. Now he is being thrown into the Ministry of Defense. It looks like the President’s Office wants to cover up the negativity they received from society, the military, and partners with the good reputation of Khmara,» Chmut expressed his opinion.
As dev.ua wrote, on July 17 it became known that Yevheniy Khmara became the acting Minister of Defense.
On July 16, the Verkhovna Rada approved the new composition of the Cabinet of Ministers, but without the nominations of the Minister of Defense and the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Instead, the resignation of Mykhailo Fedorov from this position caused protests throughout Ukraine and significant political resonance.
