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Oleksiy Yuriyovych Reznikov

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy replaced Oleksii Reznikov as defense minister. Zelenskyy said the Ukraine war effort needed a "new approach". He nominated , a former people's deputy of Ukraine, to become the new defense minister. Umerov is the head of the country's State Property Fund. The replacement came as Zelenskyy continued a crackdown on corruption in government ministries. The supply of weapons to the warring country seemed so soem like a bottomless barrel made of pure gold, but the corrpution problems were far more mundane. Reznikov did not face charges, but did appear to have afiled to come to grips with corruption in military procurement and personnel practices,. The replacement came amid procurement scandals as Ukrainian troops fight to advance toward the Crimean Peninsula.

Oleksiy Yuriyovych Reznikov joined Zelenskyi's team in the spring of 2020. Reznikov became Minister of Defense of Ukraine from November 4, 2021. Reznikov grew up and started his legal career in Lviv, where he worked with the country’s leading law firms on some of the landmark cases of recent Ukrainian history. In 2004 (the time of the Orange Revolution, provoked by the presidential election falsified in favor of Viktor Yanukovych), Reznikov was part of the legal team that represented the pro-Western presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko, compelling the Supreme Court to order a second vote, in which Yushchenko won by an eight-percent margin.

After the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity, Reznikov became deputy mayor of Kyiv under Vitali Klitshchko, organizing the Kyiv Eurovision Song Contest in 2017. When Volodymyr Zelensky became president in 2019, Reznikov joined the staff of Andriy Yermak, who served as assistant to the president and later his chief of staff. In 2019–2020, Reznikov took part in the “three-way contact group” for regulating the Donbas conflict. Later, in 2020–2021, he served as the country’s vice-premier for reintegrating the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula and the Donbas. In November 2021, he was made defense minister.

He won over Ukrainian Chief of Command Valeriy Zaluzhny by making a “pact” with him: “We agreed,” Reznikov himself admitted, “that I wouldn’t lecture him on how to fight.” “I’m not an artillery man,” he confessed. “I’m an attorney, a lawyer working as defense minister.”

Reznikov tweeted 07 February 2023 that reforms continue, “even during the war,” in comments that came amid a string of government resignations and firings and rumors that he would be replaced. “Thank you all for your support, as well as constructive criticism. We draw conclusions,” Reznikov said.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov was to be replaced by General Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the country's military intelligence agency. David Arakhamia, the leader of the Servant of the People faction in parliament, said on Telegram on 05 February 2023 that Reznikov would be transferred to the post of minister for strategic industries to strengthen military-industrial cooperation. "War dictates personnel policy," Arakhamia said. "Time and circumstances need to be strengthened and regrouped. This is happening now and will happen in the future."

Rumors of a possible Reznikov resignation or ouster had mounted after a series of accusations of corruption within the ministry. In January 2022, Ukrainian media reported that the Defense Ministry had allegedly purchased products for the military at inflated prices through a "gasket" company. Other charges of corruption were also alleged in the media.