In a day of accusations and recriminations over Ukraine's inability to repel Russia militarily from the Crimean peninsula, parliament on March 25 voted to replace its defense minister.
Lawmakers named Colonel-General Mykhailo Koval, 58, as the new acting defense minister with 251 out of 450 votes.
While adressing the deputies, Koval said he understands his responsibility and said that “he believes in the armed forces of Ukraine.” Koval, who previously headed the special group of the State Border Service on the situation in Crimea, was kidnapped on March 5 near Yalta by Russian troops. He was surrounded by a group of 40 armed people, but released later in the day.
Koval, who holds the rank of colonel general of Ukraine’s border guard troops, was born in the town of Iziaslav on Feb. 26, 1956.
Koval’s appointment came after the Verkhovna Rada accepted the resignation of interim Defense Minister Ihor Tenyukh, who has been under fire for the military’s slow response to the Russian invasion. Before the vote, Tenyukh talked about war-time preparations. “We prepared nine military units in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast to accommodate the militants and I need to stress that all Ukrainian troops will be redeployed to the mainland” and that the army is on full alert now and the mobilization campaign continues.
But Tenyukh’s resignation was backed by 228 votes, a majority in the 450-seat parliament.
The change is just one sign that Ukraine’s leaders are struggling in their response to Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula and the possible broader military invasion of the Ukrainian mainland.
Ukraine’s interim President Oleksandr Turchynov called Russia’s annexation of the nation’s Crimean peninsula “our general tragedy.”
Vitali Klitschko, the leader of Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reforms party, said that all officials who can’t do their jobs should be fired.
“The Rada doesn’t work effective now as we see it. So we will soon include into agenda the appointment of a new Verkhovna Rada chairman,” Klitschko said. “And the defense minister should be replaced by a professional. We should stop waiting for help from the West and do something. Nobody will come and rescue us. Ukraine needs to close, strengthen the security on the borders and track all those responsible for separatist moves,” Klitschko said.
Hanna Herman, a lawmaker from Party of Regions, is certain that Ukraine is a state of war now.
“And now Ukrainian parliament needs to thinks about laws which will help to preserve Ukraine’s sovereignty and we need to find some kind of national idea to unite people in east and west,” Herman said.
Herman said she doesn’t support the idea of fighting and said that the “Verkhovna Rada should rather think about the leader who can unite the country and calm down the citizens. Another task is to support Ukrainian army, which is left in the occupied territory of Crimea.”
Herman, a Party of Regions member who was a top adviser to ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, said the government needs to initiate a Ukrainian-Russian roundtable to find the way out of the crisis.
Liudmyla Denisova, the minister of social policy, said about 3,608 citizens from Russian-occupied occupied Crimea have moved to the mainland, including 1,200 in Lviv and 1,000 in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast.
“The main problem, as we see it now, is that more than 4,800 orphans are left in Crimea and our (ministry’s) primary task is to evacuate them and provide all the medical and social guarantees for these children,” Denisova said.
The minister also assured that anyone who wants to leave Crimea are welcomed to the mainland and “the ministry will support these people and will provide them jobs and place to live.”
Oleh Tiahnybok, the leader of Svoboda Party said that “Ukraine faces two enemies now” — Russia and traitors in Ukraine.
“The invader – Putin’s Kremlin – is enemy No. 1 in Ukraine has to deal with. On the other hand, we still have our inner enemies – those traitors who work for Russia,” Tiahnybok said. “And Svoboda Party warned everyone the talks with Russia couldn’t be as mild as Ukraine used to do it.”
The lawmaker is certain that the Russian government just wants Ukraine to “be divided.”
“But the three opposition parties – Svoboda, UDAR and Batkivshchyna united to oust the dictatorship. And now we should do our best to track the traitors and remain unprovoked – because only Ukraine’s future matters now. We need to unite and make it till the end – to the victory – that’s what Ukrainians will appreciate now,” Tiahnybok said.
Kyiv Post staff writer Olena Goncharova can be reached at [email protected]
