{"id":27553,"date":"2026-08-19T15:08:58","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T12:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/?p=27553"},"modified":"2026-08-19T15:08:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T12:08:58","slug":"yevhenii-khmara-minister-oborony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/politics\/yevhenii-khmara-minister-oborony\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rada has appointed Yevhen Khmara as Ukraine\u2019s Minister of Defence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"news-lead\">On 19 August, the Verkhovna Rada appointed Major General Yevhen Khmara as Ukraine\u2019s Minister of Defence. His nomination was supported by 312 members of parliament. Prior to his appointment, Khmara resigned from military service, as the law stipulates that the head of the defence ministry must be a civilian. Among the areas of focus he has outlined are payments to military personnel, reform of the Territorial Defence Forces, drones and long-range capabilities.<\/p>\n<div class=\"news-summary-box\">\n<p><strong>Briefly about the main points<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Parliament endorsed Yevhen Khmara\u2019s nomination by 312 votes.<\/li>\n<li>Khmara left the military to take up a post in the government.<\/li>\n<li>The new Defence Minister has been fighting against Russian aggression since 2014.<\/li>\n<li>Among the priorities mentioned were reform of the Central Election Commission and an increase in pay for military personnel.<\/li>\n<li>Zelenskyy stated that Khmara and Sybiga should help strengthen Ukraine.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2>How the vote for the new Defence Minister went<\/h2>\n<p>The \u00abServant of the People\u00bb parliamentary group provided the strongest support for the candidate \u2014 193 votes out of 229 MPs. \u00abEuropean Solidarity\u00bb and \u00abBatkivshchyna\u00bb each cast 16 votes, whilst \u00abHolos\u00bb cast 13.<\/p>\n<p>Within the \u00abPlatform for Life and Peace\u00bb parliamentary group, 18 MPs supported the appointment, and the same number did so in the \u00abTrust\u00bb group. The \u00abFor the Future\u00bb group cast 15 votes, \u00abRebuilding Ukraine\u00bb 12, and a further 11 votes came from independent MPs.<\/p>\n<p>The personnel appointments on 19 August also affected the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Parliament appointed Andriy Sibiga as Foreign Minister with 266 votes.<\/p>\n<h2>Combat experience and service at Special Operations Centre \u00abA\u00bb<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Yevhen Khmara<\/strong> \u2014 a career soldier who served for many years in <a href=\"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/world\/ataka-sbu-zirvala-postachannia-palyva-do-moskvy\/\">Special Operations Centre \u00abA\u00bb<\/a> Security Service of Ukraine. He has been taking part in combat operations against Russian aggression since 2014.<\/p>\n<p>Following the start of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Khmara led a special forces unit in the Kyiv region. Its mission was to counter Russian troops and destroy enemy equipment; the unit subsequently carried out combat missions in the Donbas.<\/p>\n<p>He is also said to be one of the commanders directly involved in the special operation to liberate Zmiinyi Island.<\/p>\n<h2>Senior positions, honours and transition to a civilian post<\/h2>\n<p>In 2025, Khmara took command of the SBU\u2019s \u00abA\u00bb Special Operations Centre. Members of the unit, including operators of \u00abAlfa\u00bb unmanned aerial systems, took part in operations against Russian military targets.<\/p>\n<p>Among such operations, mention is made of the SBU\u2019s special operation \u00abPavutina\u00bb, during which Ukrainian drones attacked Russia\u2019s strategic air force at airfields deep behind enemy lines. Khmara subsequently served as acting head of the SBU.<\/p>\n<p>He has received a number of state honours, including the \u00abCross of Military Merit\u00bb \u2014 one of Ukraine\u2019s highest military honours. Khmara left the armed forces to take up his post in the government: under Ukrainian law, the post of Minister of Defence is classified as a civilian position.<\/p>\n<h2>Which areas of work were cited as priorities?<\/h2>\n<p>In the run-up to the vote, the new minister\u2019s priorities were said to include increasing payments to military personnel, reforming the regional recruitment centres and developing Ukraine\u2019s long-range strike capabilities.<\/p>\n<p>Khmara also plans to retain part of the agency\u2019s key team working on reforming the defence procurement system. Specific areas of focus are to include scaling up unmanned systems and expanding the capacity to strike enemy military targets at considerable distances.<\/p>\n<p>President <strong>Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/strong> He thanked the MPs for their support for the appointments of Khmara and Sybiga. According to him, the new ministers have been tasked with strengthening Ukraine.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yevheniya Khmara was appointed Minister of Defence of Ukraine with 312 votes. He resigned from the service to take up a civilian post.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":207433355,"featured_media":27552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_description":"\u0404\u0432\u0433\u0435\u043d\u0456\u044f \u0425\u043c\u0430\u0440\u0443 \u043f\u0440\u0438\u0437\u043d\u0430\u0447\u0438\u043b\u0438 \u043c\u0456\u043d\u0456\u0441\u0442\u0440\u043e\u043c \u043e\u0431\u043e\u0440\u043e\u043d\u0438 \u0423\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0457\u043d\u0438 312 \u0433\u043e\u043b\u043e\u0441\u0430\u043c\u0438. \u0412\u0456\u043d \u0437\u0432\u0456\u043b\u044c\u043d\u0438\u0432\u0441\u044f \u0437\u0456 \u0441\u043b\u0443\u0436\u0431\u0438 \u0434\u043b\u044f \u043f\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0445\u043e\u0434\u0443 \u043d\u0430 \u0446\u0438\u0432\u0456\u043b\u044c\u043d\u0443 \u043f\u043e\u0441\u0430\u0434\u0443.","rank_math_title":"\u0404\u0432\u0433\u0435\u043d\u0456\u0439 \u0425\u043c\u0430\u0440\u0430 \u043e\u0447\u043e\u043b\u0438\u0432 \u041c\u0456\u043d\u0456\u0441\u0442\u0435\u0440\u0441\u0442\u0432\u043e \u043e\u0431\u043e\u0440\u043e\u043d\u0438 \u0423\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0457\u043d\u0438","rank_math_focus_keyword":"\u0425\u043c\u0430\u0440\u0430","td_subtitle":"","subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[805617],"tags":[806756],"class_list":["post-27553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics","tag-806756"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207433355"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27553"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27555,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27553\/revisions\/27555"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}