Who is Ukraine's new defence minister Rustem Umerov?

Rustem Umerov: Here are top points on Ukraine's new defence minister amid Russian invasion

Ukraine's parliament voted to approve the appointment of Rustem Umerov as defence minister after the country's president Volodymyr Zelensky proposed him to replace Oleksii Reznikov. New approaches and other forms of interaction with the military and society were needed as Russia's invasion entered its 19th month, Ukraine's president said.

Ukraine's defence minister Rustem Umerov (Reuters)

"Our main objective is victory," Rustem Umerov wrote on Facebook after parliament voted to back him, adding, "I will do everything possible and impossible for Ukraine's victory - when we will liberate every centimetre of our country and each our person."

"Welcome aboard, Minister," the defence ministry wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Here are top points on Ukraine's new defence minister amid Russian invasion:

1. Rustem Umerov, 41, is a Crimean Tatar, a Turkic people from the Black Sea Ukrainian peninsula that was annexed by Russia in 2014.
2. He was born in Samarkand in Uzbekistan to a Crimean Tatar family that was deported from then Soviet Crimea in the 1940s.
3. Since 2020, Rustem Umerov has been a member of a Ukrainian government task force working on the strategy to end the Russian occupation of Crimea.
4. In September 2022, Rustem Umerov, then a lawmaker from the pro-European Holos party, became head of State Property Fund- an agency selling state assets to private investors.
5. Rustem Umerov is credited with turning round the institution that was said to be mired in corruption scandals.
6. Rustem Umerov was also a member of the Ukrainian team that held negotiations with Russia in March 2022, one month after Moscow's invasion on Ukraine.
7. He also took part in talks on the UN-brokered wartime deal that allowed Ukraine to export its grain through the Black Sea.
8. He was also a member of the delegation during a visit by Zelensky to Saudi Arabia in May.