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Ukraine’s defense chief to send three of his deputies packing

Rustem Umerov said he will appoint replacements in a separate announcement

MOSCOW, October 1. /TASS/. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said he plans to dismiss three of his deputies, namely, Stanislav Gaider, Alexander Sergey and Yury Dzhigir.

Also, Ukraine’s defense chief has requested the dismissal of Lyudmila Daragan, the Defense Ministry’s State Secretary, the Ukrainian defense agency said on its Telegram channel.

Umerov said he will appoint replacements in a separate announcement.

The Ukrainian government will hold a meeting later on Tuesday to finalize the dismissals, lawmaker Alexey Goncharenko [included in the list of terrorists and extremists in Russia] said.

While Gaider, Dzhigir and Daragan were appointed last fall after Umerov was tapped to helm the defense ministry, Sergey has only held his post for a little under three months.

Umerov announced the sweeping changes to his ministry amid swirling rumors that he himself could be on the way out. On September 29, Ukrainian Telegram channels wrote that the country’s defense chief would soon be replaced by Digital Transformation Minister Mikhail Fyodorov as the army is struggling on the frontline. Chief of Ukraine’s military intelligence Kirill Budanov may reportedly step down, too.

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