MPs move to session on future ministers after PM vote – UP sources

MPs from the Servant of the People faction have moved to a meeting on the appointment of a potential defence minister following the appointment of new Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda sources familiar with the developments in the parliament voting

Details: Three MPs from the faction confirmed the information to Ukrainska Pravda.

According to sources, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not expected to attend because "he said everything yesterday," as one source put it.

"The faction will probably announce that there won't be a vote on the defence minister today," one source suggested.

The Verkhovna Rada has now gone into a several-hour break related to forming the government.

Parliament appointed Serhii Koretskyi as prime minister on 16 July. Koretskyi previously served as CEO of Naftogaz of Ukraine, the country's largest oil and gas company, and Ukrnafta, Ukraine's largest oil producer.

Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov is currently giving a briefing ahead of his dismissal. In it, he outlined the main problems in the management of the defence forces and the system of power, and said he had proposed replacing Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi.

A protest in support of Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov is taking place near the President's Office in Kyiv and a number of Ukrainian cities.

Background:

• Ukrainska Pravda sources in the Servant of the People faction said Volodymyr Zelenskyy would not be putting Fedorov forward for the post of defence minister as part of the government reshuffle. Ihor Klymenko, currently acting Minister of Internal Affairs, could become the new defence minister.
• Sources in the faction also say Fedorov remains on the president's team, "but what he will do next will become clearer next week".
• Fedorov has summed up his time in office, thanked those who supported him and said he will continue his mission to "defeat the enemy through asymmetry, the speed of innovation and the power of organisation".

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