Today, August 19, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine supported the appointment of Yevheniy Khmara as Minister of Defense of Ukraine. 312 people's deputies voted in support of the new head of the department.
Today, August 19, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine supported the appointment of Yevheniy Khmara as Minister of Defense of Ukraine. 312 people's deputies voted in support of the new head of the department.
This was reported by People's Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak.
We will remind that on July 17, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine appointed Yevheniy Khmara as the acting Minister of Defense. A month later, on August 18, the President of Ukraine submitted a proposal to the Parliament to appoint Yevheniy Khmara as the Minister of Defense of Ukraine.
It should be noted that this required resolving an important legal nuance: according to the Law of Ukraine “On National Security”, the position of Minister of Defense must be held by a civilian, while a military serviceman cannot be appointed to this position. At the time, this raised many questions about how Yevheniy Khmara would acquire civilian status.
On the eve of the vote, People's Deputy Oleksandr Fedienko suggested that Yevheniy Khmara could be enlisted in the reserves: "Analyzing the situation, I can conclude that the reserve enlistment mechanism will be applied. Thus, such an officer ceases to be a military serviceman. He retains his military rank, etc."
Then, during a speech in the Rada, Yevheniy Khmara confirmed that he is now a civilian. According to him, he was officially discharged from military service in accordance with the Law of Ukraine "On Military Duty and Military Service."
Yevhenii Leonidovych Khmara is a career Ukrainian military officer, major general, and special forces officer with many years of experience in the special services.
He studied at the Bohdan Khmelnytsky National Academy of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and the United Institute.
Since 2011, he has worked in the Alpha special unit (CSO "A" of the SBU). He went from an operational officer to the head of the unit. In April 2023, he headed the Center for Special Operations to Combat Terrorism ("A") of the SBU.
From January to July 2026, he temporarily served as the head of the Security Service of Ukraine.
We will remind you that on the eve of the appointment of the new head of the Ministry of Defense by the Council, former Minister Mykhailo Fedorov recorded an address to the people.
