Parliament approved Shmyhal’s dismissal from the post of head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine
On January 13, the Verkhovna Rada supported the dismissal of Denys Shmyhal from the post of Minister of Defense of Ukraine. 265 people’s deputies voted for the corresponding decision.
Before the vote, Shmyhal made a report on his work as the head of the defense department. He recalled the introduction of contracts with specified terms of service, an increase in the volume of direct funding for combat brigades, and the development of the defense line system. The official also announced a significant increase in the share of Ukrainian-made weapons at the front.
According to him, within the framework of centralized procurement, 76% of weapons were purchased from domestic manufacturers, while in 2024 this figure was 46%. Separately, he reported that 2.2 million drones of various types were transferred to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, of which 1.8 million were FPV drones.
At the same time, Solomiya Bobrovska, a member of the Holos faction and a member of the parliamentary committee on national security, defense and intelligence, stated that her colleagues did not support Shmyhal’s resignation. According to her, he did a “professional job” as a minister after the “complete mess” in the Ministry of Defense during the time of the previous head Rustem Umerov.
Recall that on July 16, the Verkhovna Rada supported the dismissal of Shmyhal from the post of Prime Minister, after which the entire government automatically resigned. Already on July 17, the parliament appointed him Minister of Defense instead of Rustem Umerov, who later headed the National Security and Defense Council.
The events were preceded by the fact that on January 2, 2026, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed to the head of the Ministry of Digital Affairs Mykhailo Fedorov to take the post of Minister of Defense instead of Shmyhal. The next day, the head of state reported on consultations with Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko regarding the possible appointment of Shmyhal as Minister of Energy and stated that he expected the parliament to support this decision.
After the dismissal of Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk in November 2025, Artem Nekrasov temporarily performed the duties of the head of the Ministry of Energy. On January 9, the Rada received resignations from Denys Shmyhal and Mykhailo Fedorov.
