Updated 4:07 p.m. Moscow time
KIEV, October 13 (RIA Novosti) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko nominated National Guard Commander Stepan Poltorak to the post of the country’s defense minister, the presidential press service said in a statement Monday.
“Poroshenko nominated Stepan Poltorak to the defense minister’s post, the candidacy to be considered by the Verkhovna Rada,” the statement said.
On Sunday, President Poroshenko accepted the resignation of the country's Defense Minister Valeriy Heletei.
Poroshenko also expressed hope that the Verkhovna Rada would not delay voting and that the appointment of the new defense minister would take place on Tuesday.
Forty-nine-year-old General Poltorak has served as the National Guard Commander since March 19, 2014. He has also served for less than a month as a Commander of Internal Troops of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs.
From 2002, he worked as the head of the Academy of Interior Troops of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs.
