Ukraine's Defence Ministry names 6 aides and advisers to defence minister

Ukraine's Defence Ministry has reported that Rustem Umierov, Ukraine's Defence Minister, has six aides and advisers to the Patronage Service of Ukraine's Defence Minister. Source: the reply of Ukraine's Defence Ministry to a request from Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne Details: Umierov's reported assistants are:

Nikita Nikitenko, Chief of the Patronage Service, Aide to the Minister of Defence of Ukraine.

He was a chief advisor to the Servant of the People parliamentary faction from 2019 to 2022. Nikitenko was appointed chief advisor and later head of the Regional Network Department of the State Property Fund of Ukraine in 2022 and acting chief of Staff of the State Property Fund of Ukraine. Nikitenko is responsible for coordinating the work of the Defence Ministry's structural units and preparing and organising events involving the minister of defence.

Ali Bekirov served in the 204th Tactical Aircraft Brigade, the city of Sevastopol, Belbek airbase, until 2014. Following the occupation of Crimea and his unit's withdrawal, he continued his military service in the city of Mykolaiv. He served in the ATO in 2014 (The ATO, or Anti-Terrorist Operation, is a term used from 2014 to 2018 by the media, the government of Ukraine and the OSCE to identify combat actions in parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts against Russian military forces and pro-Russian separatists - ed.)

He performed combat missions as part of the Kharkiv's Defence Forces at the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion. Within the Ministry of Defence, he is responsible for military education, training and communication with military units and military authorities. Ihor Vitkovskyi, Colonel of Ukraine's Armed Forces, served in the Electronic Warfare Battalion, the Command and Intelligence Centre of the 13th Army Corps, Operational Command Zakhid (West), the Main Logistics Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Operational Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.

He served in the ATO. Within the Ministry of Defence, he coordinates and establishes the involvement of international military assistance. Advisers to the Patronage Service of Ukraine's Defence Minister:

Diana Davitian worked as a correspondent for Focus magazine from 2015 to 2018. Between 2019 and 2020, she held the position of press secretary to the Prime Minister of Ukraine, and for the next two years, she was an assistant to Rustem Umierov who was a lawmaker at the time. She is responsible for communications and international cooperation within the Ministry of Defence.

Oleksandr Kozenko served as an advisor to the Head of the Ukrainian President's Office from 2020-2023. Since November 2023, he has been an advisor to Ukraine's defence minister. In the Ministry of Defence, he is responsible for state-owned aircraft development.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko served as Deputy Head of the President's Office from May 2019 to January 2023. In March 2024, he was appointed as a staff adviser to Ukraine's defence minister. Within the Ministry of Defence, he is responsible for media and communications, coordinating information policy in the defence ministry and its subordinate structures, and developing a unified information agenda in the Ukrainian Defence Forces during martial law.

"Aides/advisers to the minister of defence of Ukraine in wartime perform tasks defined by the minister of defence of Ukraine," the response to the request reads. The Ministry of Defence also noted that the official salary of advisers to the Minister of Defence in 2024 amounts to UAH 17,865 [roughly US£456]. Background: On 8 March, it was reported that Kyrylo Tymoshenko, former Deputy Head of the Ukrainian President's Office, became an adviser to Ukraine's Defence Minister Rustem Umierov.

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