On 19 August the Verkhovna Rada confirmed Yevhenii Khmara as Minister of Defence with 312 votes and Andrii Sybiha as Minister of Foreign Affairs with 266 votes. Both had been running their ministries in an acting capacity since mid-July.
On 19 August 2026 Ukraine's parliament closed a personnel question that had stayed open for more than a month: deputies formally confirmed Yevhenii Khmara as Minister of Defence and Andrii Sybiha as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Until that vote, both men had been running their ministries in an acting capacity. Volunteers Support Ukraine follows decisions of this kind closely, because the pace of weapons deliveries and international backing depends on who sits in those two offices.
Khmara's appointment was backed by 312 deputies, two voted against and twenty abstained from casting a card, with 334 votes registered in the chamber overall. The margin was comfortable and free of the usual bargaining — something of an exception for wartime personnel votes.
Sybiha's nomination drew 266 votes. In his case this amounts to a reappointment: he had already led the foreign ministry and now returns to the same job with a renewed parliamentary mandate.
To take the post, Khmara had to leave military service, since Ukrainian law requires the defence minister to be a civilian. Speaking before the vote, he said the country's leadership has a clear picture of Russia's next moves, its mobilisation plans and its strategy for the coming autumn and winter. For the team at Volunteers Support Ukraine, statements like that are not abstract politics — they are an early signal of what the next cold season will look like for millions of people.
Keeping Sybiha at the head of the foreign ministry means the diplomatic line does not pause while a newcomer settles in. That continuity matters right now, with work under way on sanctions packages aimed at Russia's military-industrial complex and negotiations continuing over air defence supplies.
Both politicians had headed their ministries since 17 July, when parliament dismissed the government of Yuliia Svyrydenko and appointed Serhii Koretskyi as prime minister. The 19 August vote turned a temporary arrangement into a permanent one, giving the cabinet a full complement in its two most sensitive portfolios.
Volunteers Support Ukraine keeps helping people harmed by the war with whatever resources the organisation manages to gather each month. Whoever holds government office, the need for warm clothing, generators, medicines and food in front-line communities does not go away — and that daily work is what the NGO has made its own.
