GENICHESK, September 4. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has decided to sack Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov, effectively making him the scapegoat for Ukraine’s failed counteroffensive, Kherson Region Acting Governor Vladimir Saldo told TASS.

"Zelensky needs a scapegoat because the [Ukrainian] nationalists and the West are demanding that those culpable for the failure of the so-called counteroffensive be identified. Military leaders are still needed, and even Zelensky realizes that. But, the civilian defense minister within the Kiev regime has no impact whatsoever on the course of military action. This is why the regime’s ringleader has chosen to sacrifice Reznikov, a person who is not from his personal coterie and whom he has no qualms about jettisoning," the official said.

Saldo noted that Rustem Umerov, Reznikov’s potential replacement, is neither a politician nor a military specialist, or even an administrator. "Such a minister will do next to nothing for the military agency," he added.

On Sunday, Zelensky said that he had decided to remove Reznikov from office and proposed replacing him with Umerov, who is currently in charge of the State Property Fund of Ukraine.

The Defense Ministry and Reznikov himself have been frequently criticized in Ukraine in connection with corruption scandals. For instance, in January the UNIAN news agency and the Zerkalo Nedeli newspaper published the results of a journalistic investigation whose authors, based on a number of documents, discovered that the Defense Ministry had been buying food supplies for the troops at prices double or triple those found in Kiev grocery stores. Another scandal broke out in Ukraine in August when reporters found out that, in the fall of 2022, the Defense Ministry had concluded a contract with a Turkish company to purchase 4,900 winter jackets valued at $142,000 but the final price somehow stood at $421,000. Criminal charges have been filed as a result.