Ukraine’s parliament on Nov. 3 voted to accept the dismissal of five Cabinet Ministers, including Defense Minister Andrii Taran.
Taran has not disclosed the reasons for his resignation. However, he had often faced criticism for allegedly low efficacy, failure to introduce a new military procurement system and acute conflicts with Armed Forces command.
Oleksii Reznikov, a Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories, is expected to take his place — President Volodymyr Zelensky nominated him. His vacant office most likely will go to Iryna Vereshchuk, a lawmaker from the ruling Servant of the People party.
First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Oleksiy Lyubchenko also resigned.
Several media outlets reported that on Nov. 3, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, alongside the Security Service of Ukraine, searched his house and office. One of these publications, Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, later retracted its story and apologized. Lyubchenko’s press secretary Anastasia Polityko told Kyiv Post that no searches happened in his premises.
Minister of Strategic Industries Oleh Uruskiy and Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Roman Abramovsky stepped down as well.
Uruskiy filed for voluntary leave, according to Taras Melnychuk, the government’s representative at the Verkhovna Rada. According to media reports, Uruskiy can be replaced by Pavlo Ryabikin, who currently serves as the head of the State Customs Service.
Uruskiy’s work attracted criticism, especially from UkrOboronProm, the country’s defense production giant. In November 2020, the company’s then-leadership team accused the minister of hog-tying corporatization reforms and trying to seize control of the UkrOboronProm’s key enterprises. He repudiated all charges and accused the company’s top management of incompetence and attempts to derail the fulfillment of “tasks stated by the president and enshrined in legislation.”
The Verkhovna Rada will appoint new ministers on Nov. 4.
