Ucrania, New Minister, Rustem Umerov.

The counteroffensive took the former defense minister of Ukraine, Oleksii Reznikov.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has appointed Rustem Umerov, a Crimean Tatar, as his next defense minister, replacing Oleksii Reznikov, at a critical moment for the Ukrainian counteroffensive. Umerov will have a bulging inbox if the Ukrainian parliament approves his appointment. The change in leadership comes as Ukraine's relations with its allies and donors enter a new phase. Kyiv is trying to speed up the training and deployment of F-16 fighter jets and acquire a host of other equipment and weapons from its Western allies to help fuel its counteroffensive. But the Defense Ministry is also trying to develop an indigenous weapons production base in collaboration with Western defense companies, including efforts to develop new long-range capabilities that could be used against targets inside Russian territory. The Defense Minister is also Ukraine's main interlocutor with the Western allies through the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. Reznikov has developed relationships with senior US and European officials through the Group. The next meeting of the Group will be held at the end of this month. But Umerov also has extensive experience as a negotiator. He has been closely involved in prisoner of war exchanges and helped negotiate the Black Sea Grain Initiative. In that role, he repeatedly expressed skepticism that Russia would honor the deal. He is currently Chairman of the State Property Fund, whose mission is to attract investment to Ukraine. A survivor and businessman with ties to the Gulf Zelensky chose Umerov for the top Defense post despite the fact that Umerov is not a member of his political party, the Servant of the People. Instead, he represents a smaller liberal party, Golos, which is in opposition. Umerov, a Crimean Tatar, was born in 1982 in Uzbekistan, where tens of thousands of members of the Muslim ethnic minority were deported by Stalin in 1944. He moved to Crimea as a child in the waning days of the Soviet era. In an interview with Forbes last year, he explained that his personal background had influenced his role with prisoners of war. "I survived the reintegration in my historical homeland of Crimea. I know what reintegration is and I know what temporary occupation is. Therefore, for me it is not a general statement what human rights are. For the last eight years I have dealt with the question of the exchange of political prisoners and prisoners of war. I am very concerned about this matter." Rustem Umerov is expected to become Ukraine's next defense minister. Crimean Tatars have suffered persecution and exodus, mainly at Russian hands, since at least 1783, when Russian Empress Catherine the Great annexed Crimea after seizing it from the Ottoman Empire. Umerov is a Muslim, and last year he declared that "Ukrainian Muslims are fighting for the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine." His background has also allowed him to develop links with Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, which collaborated in a high-profile prisoner swap last year. He was the Ukrainian official who received the prisoners of war upon their arrival in Saudi Arabia.

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