Rada approves Khmara as defense minister
The Verkhovna Rada has supported the submission of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy to appoint Yevhen Khmara to the post of Minister of Defense of Ukraine.
On July 20, 2026, the Verkhovna Rada approved the appointment of Yevhen Khmara as the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, the 21st such position holder in independent Ukraine. The 312 members of parliament voted in favor of the appointment during a plenary session on Wednesday. Khmara, known for his combat and special operations experience with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), was appointed acting minister on July 17 after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed his appointment.
Prior to this role, he briefly served as the acting head of the defense ministry, taking over from Mykhailo Fedorov on July 16. Khmara's appointment marks the fifth time he has held a defense minister position since the full-scale Russian invasion began in 2022, and he succeeded the youngest defense minister in Ukrainian history.
Written by urgent.news from Interfax-Ukraine's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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