Ukraine - September 2023

Rustem Umerov replaced Oleksii Reznikov as Ukraine’s Defense Minister on 7 September, marking the highest-ranking official reshuffle since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Under Reznikov, the Ministry of Defense had been implicated in several wartime corruption scandals related to procurement of food, uniforms, and other goods. Umerov, formerly the head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, is Ukraine’s first Muslim minister and occupies the highest political office held by a Crimean Tatar in hundreds of years.

Sources: Kyiv Independent, Associated Press, Politico, openDemocracy