“Oleksandr Kuzmuk headed the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for the longest time.”, — write: www.unian.ua
Oleksandr Kuzmuk headed the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for the longest time.
Kuzmuk presented awards to the Territorial Defense Forces on Armed Forces Day / photo facebook.com/TerritorialDefenseForcesOleksandr Kuzmuk, Minister of Defense of Ukraine during the time of President Kuchma, during whose term of office Ukraine transferred its cruise missiles and strategic bombers to Russia, took part in awarding servicemen of the Territorial Defense Forces (TrO) on the occasion of Armed Forces Day. This is stated in the press service of the TrO forces.
It is reported that Kuzmuk “especially noted the courage” with which the Ukrainian army resisted the aggressor.
“In a historically short period of time, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have come a long way. If we are resisting the monster, which by its own strength outweighs us many times over, it is solely thanks to you – all the officers, sergeants and soldiers who are fighting bravely and steadfastly,” Kuzmuk is quoted as saying by the press service of the TrO forces.
Who is Oleksandr Kuzmuk?Kuzmuk twice headed the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine during the presidency of Leonid Kuchma – from 1996 to 2001 and then for several months from the end of 2004 to the beginning of 2005. He is the absolute record holder among defense ministers of Ukraine for the length of his tenure.
In 2007, Kuzmuk held the post of Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for half a year.
Kuzmuk was also elected three times as a People’s Deputy of Ukraine of the 4th (2002-2006), 6th (2007-2012) and 7th (2012-2014) convocations. First from the “For a United Ukraine” bloc, and then from the Party of Regions.
In 2019, President Volodymyr Zelensky released Kuzmuk from military service due to age, leaving the honorable right to wear a military uniform.
As “Ukrainian Pravda” writes, Kuzmuk returned to military affairs in 2022 in the status of advisor to the commander of the TRO forces. In this position, he has already “survived” two commanders and is currently working with the third.
What is Kuzmuk criticized forKuzmuk headed the Ministry of Defense precisely at the moment when Ukraine got rid of the most powerful weapons inherited from the USSR. Although nuclear weapons were given to Russia even before he was appointed to the post, already under Kuzmuk, Ukraine gave Russia and disposed of strategic bombers. Also, under his leadership, the Ministry of Defense got rid of hundreds of tanks, BMPs, planes and helicopters, not to mention other weapons.
In 2018, the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise presented a report at a meeting of the temporary investigative commission of the Verkhovna Rada, which detailed how Ukraine was losing its defense capability before 2014. In this report, it was said that in only half a year from September 2004 to February 2005, when Kuzmuk briefly became the Minister of Defense for the second time, 248 MANPADS, 136 tanks, 781 BMP/APC, 96 airplanes and 18 helicopters were withdrawn from the Armed Forces.
In 2023, the journalists of the “Scheme” project (Radio Liberty) found that Russia was shelling Ukraine with Kh-55 cruise missiles, which Kyiv handed over to Moscow in 1999 as part of an intergovernmental agreement on gas debt repayment. Just when the Ministry of Defense was headed by Kuzmuk. At that time, Ukraine handed Russia eight Tu-160 bombers, three Tu-95MS and 575 X-55 missiles in exchange for writing off a gas debt of UAH 275 million — an amount equal to the value of these weapons.
The journalists compared the serial numbers of the missiles handed over to Russia with those missiles whose fragments were collected at the sites of Russian strikes on Ukraine in 2022-23. As a result, more than a dozen matches were found.
Kuzmuk’s work in the parliament was no less odious. The most scandalous can be considered the episode when, in June 2013, Kuzmuk, along with 147 other People’s Deputies (mostly regionalists and communists), addressed a letter to the Polish Sejm, in which they called for recognition of the Volyn tragedy as genocide of the Polish people.
The statement caused a wave of indignation among Ukrainian politicians and public figures. In the end, even the Polish Diet then adopted a much milder resolution for the anniversary of the Volyn tragedy.
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