Ukroboronprom CEO Herman Smetanin announced that he is resigning from his post. He said this in a message published on his Telegram channel.
In the post, Smetanin wrote that it had been “an honor to lead Ukraine’s largest defense company.” He also thanked colleagues for their joint work and gave special thanks to the General Staff and the Armed Forces of Ukraine for what he described as their “incredible endurance and strength.”
Smetanin did not specify the reason for his resignation. He had led Ukroboronprom since June 2023.
Strike on Vyshneve
On the night of July 6, Russian forces struck a Ukroboronprom warehouse in Vyshneve, Kyiv region, using missiles and drones. According to the reported figures, nine people were killed, dozens of homes were completely destroyed, and more than 300 were damaged.
Yulia Svyrydenko, who at that time was serving as Ukraine’s prime minister, said Vyshneve had suffered “the most extensive destruction of the residential sector during the entire full-scale invasion.”
After the strike, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “There will definitely be dismissals in Ukroboronprom, because the warehouse belonged to one of Ukroboronprom’s enterprises.”
Against this backdrop, Smetanin’s resignation became the first publicly announced staffing decision at the defense group’s leadership level following the attack on the warehouse in Vyshneve.