Criticism is "out of time". Why it is necessary to control Defense Minister's work (both Reznikov and his successor)

When Reznikov saw the results of his resignation on the scoreboard, pro-government MPs sent him out the door with a long round of applause. But the question of how much money the Defense Ministry has for the needs of the war and how much of it ended up in the pockets of friends and relatives of the Servants of the People remains open.

There is a lot of discussion now about whether it was worth raising the topic of corruption amid heavy counteroffensive and general political uncertainty about the future.

Let's move on from the ex-minister's own statement about the cost of one day of war for the Ukrainian budget. This is USD 100 million a day.

This is a lot of money, and it's hard to come by. And it is likely that neither we nor the treasuries of our foreign friends are bottomless. Moreover, even the friendliest governments recognize that every piece of corruption news from Ukraine has a very bad effect on the mood of their societies. And this is the root of the reason why some armaments are going slower than they could, and why there are problems with financing, because local citizens are increasingly asking why we should give our money to someone else's Maldives and Costa Brava.

Finally, Reznikov actually admitted that the basic budget of the Defense Ministry is the taxes of Ukrainian citizens. So, it is logical that we can ask where our money is and whether it is being spent so efficiently in a time of war. Without cursing and numerous posts by positive bloggers among the ministers' wedding guests, what kind of citizens are "incompetent" and "hypocrites."

At the final press conference, Reznikov admitted that the army is actually supported by Ukrainian citizens, who work and pay taxes that go to the state budget, and from there, including the army.

"The army is the largest consumer of funds today. However, funds are also needed to maintain the country as a whole: for infrastructure, for reconstruction, and to support the socially vulnerable. Therefore, we need to work and pay taxes. Businesses need to be active and support entrepreneurs," Reznikov said.

This is a verdict for those who said that corruption investigations are not timely. And it is a stinging rebuke to anyone who tried to shift the focus and say that Reznikov came to a ministry that had not been reformed for eight years.

Let's learn the math together and say it straight: the most difficult year for the Ukrainian army was 2014. Back then, there was a lack of combat-ready units. Few people had the moral strength to shoot at the "polite people" in the Russian pixel who appeared in Crimea and Donbas. A career in the army also meant that you were a bum and a failure. You don't have to look far to find an old interview with General Dmytro Marchenko, who told us how he worked as a taxi driver at night to have money to continue his career in the Armed Forces.

It's worth mentioning that in 2015-2016, under Minister Stepan Poltorak, there was a kind of volunteer landing party. And there, David Arakhamia, a star volunteer at the time, was making himself known in the media. And then he became the backbone of the Servant of the People party.

Later, in 2020, under the next minister, Andriy Taran, volunteers and reformers were out of time, and the Reforms Project Office was dispersed. According to people who worked there directly, this set back the progress for several years. And that is why we found ourselves in a glaring situation before a full-scale war, when the Ministry of Defense lacked helmets, bulletproof vests and uniforms, and the weapons program was safely curtailed.

In times of full-scale war, we are not obliged to "love" this or that minister. This applies to both the former Oleksii Reznikov and the newly appointed Rustem Umerov.

The main function of the Minister of Defense is not to shoot Tik Tok on Leopards, but to count, buy and organize military logistics.

A year and a half has passed since the invasion, but concerned citizens are still buying cars, drones, thermal imagers, sights, and electronic warfare equipment for the Armed Forces. They are buying for those who should not have any problems with supply - they are collecting money for reconnaissance drones for Budanov, collecting for our reconnaissance groups behind enemy lines, collecting for the elites of our army.

So far, contracts have been concluded not with manufacturers, but with strange intermediaries owned by relatives of ruling party MPs who have close ties to the traitor Bohuslaev. What is this if not sabotage of the direct procurement functions of the Ministry of Defense?

I would also like to say hello to another of Reznikov's defenders, who have been pushing the story that the decision to approve the F-16 was the victory of the former minister alone.

It was only after the tragic death of the Ukrainian legendary Jus pilot Andriy Pilshchikov that it became known that this soldier had organized English courses for his colleagues, sought ammunition, and most importantly, advocated for Ukraine to receive the aircraft before senators and congressmen.

It is also important to know that requests for the list of weapons are not made by the person at the head of the Ministry of Defense, who is a civilian according to the law. Lists of shells and guns are compiled by the General Staff, taking into account combat operations and successes in certain areas. Therefore, in essence, the Minister of Defense goes around with a conditional shopping list and looks for it in the world's arms supermarkets.

The success or failure of Mr. Reznikov's successor, Mr. Umerov, directly depends on how well he copes with this list that "Mother Army" has written. And what effective procurement processes will be established in the Defense Ministry right now.

Finally, I would like to say that when Reznikov was appointed Minister of Defense after Andriy Taran, it gave many people hope, relief and faith that a high-quality lawyer would not make any abuses or mistakes with his signature.

However, Oleksii Reznikov kept saying that there would be no attack from Belarus and that it was ridiculous to talk about it. And this relaxed the residents of the Kyiv region, who were under severe occupation and then made their way to Kyiv under fire.

Separately, I don't know who advised Reznikov to quarrel and sue journalists. But this is actually a political suicide that will haunt his political career for quite some time.

And finally, what can we expect from Rustem Umerov? At the very least, he wants efficient procurement, and at the most, he wants to see fewer business partners of the ruling party in every second procurement contract.

I would say that Minister Reznikov's criticism was appropriate and correct, no matter what his wedding guests wrote. Because the Minister of Defense works for our money. He also has our money at his disposal. These funds are very hard to earn in a time of war. And given that every family has a relative or friend in the Armed Forces, these funds can directly save someone's life.

So we keep our finger on the pulse. And we continue to catch sheep like a border collie.

Especially for Espreso

About the author: Maryna Danyliuk-Yarmolaieva, journalist. 

The editors don't always share the opinions expressed by the authors of the blogs.