Rustem Umerov should head the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine – address by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

3 September 2023 – 22:02

I wish you health, dear Ukrainians!

At the end of the week, I would like to say a few things.

First, Ukraine has become stronger. We have new agreements with our partners on defense packages. And, by the way, today in a conversation with French President Macron, we discussed what new supplies can help our warriors. We discussed the protection of our Odesa region – what France can do to protect Odesa and the region. And there is a very important agreement on training our pilots in France – our coalition of modern fighters is getting more powerful. There are significant things that we are doing in Ukraine to protect us every week more and more intensively. This includes our weapons – from artillery and shells to drones and missiles… This also applies to our unity. In particular, unity in rejecting everything and everyone that weakens Ukraine.

Secondly, we are constantly proving that we can do things together that seem fantastic to the rest of the world, but work in reality when Ukrainians take them on. Four ships have already passed through our new, alternative sea corridor from our southern seaports. And we are working with our partners around the world to restore the normal operation of the Grain Corridor, which has ensured and should ensure food security on a global scale. I thank everyone who is helping with this.

Third, Ukraine has to achieve several very specific results in the coming months. In particular, it is our strategic political goal to launch membership negotiations with the European Union. Ukraine has seven specific recommendations from the European Commission. We have already implemented some of them. The other part requires effective work of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Timely work, which we have agreed with the European Commission. The law on the restoration of electronic declaration, amendments to the law on national minorities, and, I would like to draw special attention to it, the law on PEPs – politically exposed persons. Each of these laws is of fundamental importance. And voting on them will be of fundamental importance. People will see who is worth what. And I urge Ukrainian MPs not to postpone these decisions, not to let Ukraine down, and to support our European integration.

One more thing is very important.

This week, the Parliament will be offered to make a personnel decision. I want to outline it now. I have decided to replace the Minister of Defense of Ukraine. Oleksiy Reznikov has gone through more than 550 days of full-scale war. I believe that the Ministry needs new approaches and other formats of interaction with both the military and society at large. Now Rustem Umerov should lead the Ministry. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine knows this person well, and Mr. Umerov does not need any additional introductions. I expect the Parliament to support this candidate.

Autumn is a time for strengthening.

Glory to Ukraine!

While there was chatter several months ago that Reznikov was either going to be shuffled to a different ministry or fired outright, it didn’t happen. Until or unless reporting comes out that something more is going on here, I wouldn’t read to much into this personnel change. On one hand you definitely want continuity of leadership in a crisis. On the other you have to recognize that over 18 months as Minister of Defense during an existential war of self defense is going to tax and drain even the most resilient individual. I suspect we’ll know soon enough iff there’s something more going on here than it’s just time for fresh blood.

That said, here is now independent and former Kyiv Independent defense correspondent Illia Ponomarenko’s take on Zelenskyy’s announcement:

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1698415252751180124

For those wondering who Rustem Umerov is, Reuters has the details:

A 41-year-old ex-lawmaker and Crimean Tatar, Umerov has headed Ukraine’s State Property Fund since September 2022 and played a role in sensitive wartime negotiations on, for instance, the Black Sea grain deal.

He has been praised in Ukraine for his track record at the State Property Fund, which oversees the privatisation of state assets and had been embroiled in corruption scandals before he took charge.

In the same article Reuters is reporting that Reznikov may be Ukraine’s next ambassador to London.

In the meantime, Reznikov is still the Minister of Defense:

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1698375862389792993

.@oleksiireznikov: “The Security and Defense Forces of Ukraine have adopted 287 @NATO standards. This is almost a quarter of the total number. Among them, 174 are within the framework of the Ukraine-NATO Partnership Goals (top-priority Alliance standards), and 113 are initiative standards. Ukraine ranks first among NATO partner states in this regard, even surpassing the performance of some member states. By the end of 2023, we plan to have adopted and implemented approximately 200 more standards.”
📷 @Ukrinform

https://twitter.com/maria_avdv/status/1698409521679380715

The cost:

https://twitter.com/maria_avdv/status/1698443518836903998

‘Just starting to run, it’s a bit daunting because I’m not quite used to it yet. But I want to support kids who’ve lost their legs and can’t run.’ Yana, courageous 12-year-old lost both her legs when Russian missile hit Kramatorsk station. Her mother also lost a leg.

We can’t fail these children.

Bakhmut:

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1698392169634033876

Near Bakhmut, 600,000 Ukrainian combat bees serve dutifully. An improvised apiary was set up just 2 kilometers from the front line, and the bees regularly fly on missions beyond it. Serhii, a paramedic and radio operator at the medical station, assembled hives from ammunition crates, and now, throughout the summer, there has always been fresh honey for both healthy and wounded fighters.

📷 ArmyInform

Kherson:

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1698351126737834121

Robotyne axis courtesy of the Ukrainian Soldier who tweets under the handle Zaporizhzhia Salt. First tweet, followed by machine translation of it, from the thread followed by a machine translation of the rest from the Thread Reader App:

https://twitter.com/solonko1648/status/1698037965862150412

“Magura” is now clearly showing what it managed to overcome to the east of the village of Robotyne in incredibly difficult battles. Needless confirmation of how difficult this task was. And the reason why many among Russian propagandists were so sad 1/

When we studied these trenches, in which the Russians were still sitting at the time, we noticed that the system of fortifications was especially complex and tortuous in this area. Apparently, a lot of time and effort was spent to tinker so qualitatively right here, right next to the village 2/

Here is an atypically complex terrain for this area. The positions are built on the elevation relative to the area, which, among others, was used for assaults. So the place was very promising and may be most profitable for defense for many kilometers around 3/

However, the Armed Forces managed to solve this problem and break through. It was a grueling marathon. And after watching the video from 47 OMBr comes the understanding that it was even more difficult than we originally imagined when we were just beginning to accompany any action here 4/

And the otaki systems of fortifications had to be overcome northeast of Robotny. In fact, it is a line of fortifications between the villages of Robine on Verbove. A very important line, which also had to be broken by incredible effort. In the open with all the difficulties I described earlier 5/

Not sure whether Magura is referencing a Ukrainian military unit or something else. Hopefully one of our Ukrainian speakers can let us know what it is referring to. And since the last time I referenced our Ukrainian speakers there seemed to be some confusing, I’m going to make this explicit: If you speak, read, and/or write Ukrainian then you are who I am referring to. If you speak, read, and/or write Russian, which is close and this is a cognate word shared between the two languages, then you’re good to go too. If you are in NEITHER of these categories, I am NOT referring to you!

More from Robotyne:

https://twitter.com/Tatarigami_UA/status/1698374584783802716

In the Novoprokopivka area, to the south of Robotyne, recent satellite imagery showcases a landscape covered with with scorch marks and shell craters, particularly evident near tree lines and roads. Although I haven’t observed any dramatic shifts when compared to the August 31st imagery, it’s evident that the pressure on russian defenses to the south of Robotyne persists.

Given the visual evidence suggesting that the combat zone has shifted towards russian positions in the south and east, I see little merit in paying attention to russian claims of successful counter-attacks in Robotyne.

Your contributions via Buy Me A Coffee have enabled the availability of this satellite imagery and others, such as TU-95 with cope tires. If you found these valuable, please support by liking and retweeting the first message of the thread. Your engagement enables me to provide better materials

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1698437211815924004

A year and a half after that day in the just liberated Bucha, I can only give a tired smile to all those spamming “Ukraine will lose” messages on and on.

Ukraine once climbed out of the depths of hell and made a leap off the brink of the abyss when half of the world was literally burying it alive.

It made history by defeating the 21st-century blitzkrieg waged by an overwhelmingly strong nuclear power and making the West wake up and give a helping hand.

Ukraine has paid a terrible price for its freedom and existence, and Russia has given us more than enough reasons to never give up to its bloodlust.

And, dear Russian brainless bot slaves, Ukraine will carry on subverting everyone’s expectations and moving on toward its well-deserved victory, like it or not.

In other words, fuck you.

Since I’m not sure where she’s from, I’m just going to go with Ukrainian Valkyrie:

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1698269602382221622

For you tank afficionados:

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1698286463467540686

I’m pretty sure this IS NOT going to work:

https://twitter.com/Tatarigami_UA/status/1698302030370972098

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

There were still no new Patron tweets or videos posted today, so here’s some adjacent material from the Ukrainian Army Cats and Dogs account.

https://twitter.com/UAarmy_animals/status/1696856626915836076

https://twitter.com/UAarmy_animals/status/1695093697971356136

https://twitter.com/UAarmy_animals/status/1694706141132202398

https://twitter.com/UAarmy_animals/status/1696171602600169608

While dad is on a mission pic.twitter.com/bVYRcgVltu

— UkrARMY cats & dogs (@UAarmy_animals) August 27, 2023

Open thread!