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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
On Wednesday, 19 August, in the morning meetings in parliament continued between people's deputies from factions and groups and the candidates for the posts of Minister of Defense and Minister of Foreign Affairs — Yevhen Khmara and Andriy Sybiga. This is already the second round of negotiations: Zelensky submitted to the Rada the nominations of both candidates on 18 August. Yesterday the dialogues with deputies lasted more than five hours. On Wednesday the relevant committees are to review the nominations, after which a vote will take place in the chamber.
The course of the meetings was reported on the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine’s Telegram channel. Yesterday deputies spoke with the candidates about the tasks and challenges facing the state, as well as about Khmara’s and Sybiga’s vision regarding key work priorities. The discussion concerned the heads of agencies on whom the country's defense capability, Ukraine’s positions on the international stage, and the achievement of its strategic goals largely depend.
"People's deputies emphasize the importance of constant dialogue between the Government and Parliament, a shared understanding of priorities, and coordinated work on decisions and legislative initiatives necessary to strengthen the state's defense capability," the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine said in a statement.
At present the candidacies are going through the final stage of coordination before the parliamentary floor vote, which is scheduled for Wednesday.
Why Khmara’s appointment was delayed for so long
The legal snag was that Khmara is an active service member of the SBU, whereas under the Law on National Security of Ukraine the Minister of Defense must be a civilian — and this is what long held up the president's submission. Khmara served as acting minister of defense for more than a month after Mykhailo Fedorov’s resignation, and during that time the Ministry of Defense experienced personnel chaos and public criticism of his work.
President Zelensky proposed Khmara’s candidacy back on 16 July, amid the scandal over Fedorov’s dismissal, when mass protests demanding his return to office began in cities across Ukraine. However, according to people's deputies, there should be more than enough votes in the Rada to appoint Khmara, since even those who previously did not plan to vote for any candidate are ready to support the nomination.
Earlier Informator reported that the Rada would have enough votes to appoint Khmara as Minister of Defense, and the secretary of the National Security Committee, Roman Kostenko, stated he was ready to support this candidacy. We also wrote that Bezuhla accused Khmara of populism instead of reforms at the Ministry of Defense, noting that mobilization, military medical commissions, and the evacuation of the wounded from the battlefield remain outside the acting minister’s attention.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Депутати більше пʼяти годин говорили з Хмарою та Сибігою – зустріч продовжилася зранку перед голосуванням у ВР". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Informator.
