All of the Ukrainian leader\u2019s defense chiefs are linked by the same common thread: corruption<\/p>\n
Mikhail Fedorov is the latest on the conveyor belt of defense ministers to serve under Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky. None of his three predecessors have managed to turn the country\u2019s campaign against Russia around, yet it\u2019s been venal corruption \u2013 and not strategic failure \u2013 that ended all of their careers.
\nZelensky\u2019s defense chiefs have all been handed an impossible task: deliver the victory promised by Zelensky to his Western sponsors, in a conflict against Russia that Ukraine \u2013 disadvantaged in manpower and materiel \u2013 is predetermined to lose. Furthermore, they have been tasked with managing tens of billions of dollars in foreign cash, atop a ministry plagued by graft and embezzlement.
\nAleksey Reznikov (November 2021 \u2013 September 2023)
\nReznikov is the only one of Zelensky\u2019s wartime defense ministers with any military experience, having served as a commando in the Soviet Air Forces during the 1980s. Thrust into the international spotlight when Russia\u2019s military operation began in 2022, his initial task was to secure as much foreign aid as possible, and in that regard, he succeeded.<\/p>\n
Former Minister of Defence of Ukraine Aleksey Reznikov. \u00a9 Getty Images \/ Kristian Tuxen Ladegaard Berg<\/p>\n
More than \u20ac100 billion ($115 billion) flowed into Kiev\u2019s coffers during the first year of the conflict, with military aid accounting for roughly half of that amount, according to Germany\u2019s Kiel Institute.
\nThat money soon began to disappear. Reznikov was implicated in multiple graft scandals: his ministry allegedly spent $17.8 million procuring food for soldiers at three times the high-street price; paid a Polish company roughly $95 million for weapons that never arrived; and bought summer jackets during wintertime for triple the list price, from a company owned by a relative of a ministry official.
\nAfter the Ukrainian military\u2019s 2023 \u2018counteroffensive\u2019 against Russian forces ended with no territory retaken and an estimated 160,000 men lost, the writing was on the wall for Reznikov. He handed Zelensky his resignation on September 4.
\nRustem Umerov (September 2023 \u2013 July 2025)
\nTransferred to the Defense Ministry from Ukraine\u2019s state property fund, Umerov\u2019s tenure was tainted with allegations of corruption from the outset. One month before his appointment, Ukrainian media reported that Umerov was under investigation for his role in obstructing an embezzlement probe.<\/p>\n
Former Minister of Defence of Ukraine Rustem Umerov \u00a9 Getty Images \/ Kevin Dietsch<\/p>\n
In January 2024, Umerov promised to \u201ceradicate corruption\u201d and root out \u201cunscrupulous participants\u201d from the ministry. Three weeks later, ministry officials were investigated for embezzling $40 million intended for the purchase of mortar rounds, and the Pentagon announced that it was probing 50 cases of \u201ctheft, fraud or corruption, and diversion\u201d of American military aid.
\nLater that year, Ukrainian media exposed a scheme in which military and civilian authorities in Kharkov Region paid millions of dollars to fake companies for the supply of non-existent building materials to construct defensive fortifications, leaving the region undefended when Russian troops rolled in.
\nUmerov weathered similar accusations for another year, until he was finally ousted after attempting to merge two state defense procurement agencies \u2013 a move that NATO argued would elevate the risk of further corruption.
\nDenis Shmigal (July 2025 \u2013 January 2026)
\nTaking over at the Defense Ministry after five years as Zelensky\u2019s prime minister, Shmigal was free of the more public and venal scandals that tarred Reznikov and Umerov, and represented something of a clean slate.<\/p>\n
Former Minister of Defense of Ukraine Denis Shmigal \u00a9 Getty Images \/ Danylo Antoniuk<\/p>\n
Instead, public anger at Shmigal focused on the increasing brutality of Ukraine\u2019s military conscription. Shmigal did little to reassure the public when he told parliament in July 2025 that if men simply volunteered, \u201cthere will be no need for such a forceful mobilization.\u201d
\nHowever, corruption would indirectly play a part in his dismissal and transfer to Ukraine\u2019s Energy Ministry. The Energy Ministry had been left leaderless since November, when it was revealed that Zelensky\u2019s associate and one-time financier, Timur Mindich, ran a $100 million kickback scheme at nuclear operator Energoatom.
\nA probe by NABU, Ukraine\u2019s US-linked anti-corruption agency, led to the resignations of Justice Minister German Galushchenko and Energy Minister Svetlana Grinchuk, as well as Zelensky\u2019s chief of staff, Andrey Yermak.
\nShmigal\u2019s appointment as energy minister was approved by parliament on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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