President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed documents to the Verkhovna Rada appointing Denys Shmyhal as the new Minister of Defense and announced changes in the defense industry.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced this in his evening address on July 16.
Zelenskyy also said that strategic industries would be managed through the Ministry of Defense, and that Herman Smetanin would head Ukroboronprom.
“The task is very specific and clear. Currently, Ukrainian weapons are used at the front, in all our operations, by about 40%. This is much more Ukrainian arms production than ever before since our country’s independence. The volumes are really large. But we need more. And we need more of our capabilities to push the war to the territory of Russia – to where the war came from,” the president said.
Zelenskyy added that the new government’s task is to reach the level of 50% of Ukrainian weapons at the front in the first six months to strengthen the ability to strike at Russian territory.