Oleh Huliak was officially appointed as CEO of the Ukrainian Defense Industry (Ukroboronprom) on October 21, according to the company.
Huliak was appointed to replace Alexander Kamyshin, who had been appointed as the Minister of Strategic Industries in September during the largest wartime government reshuffle.
Smetanin has been in charge of Ukroporonprom, since June 2023, after his predecessor Yurii Husiev was reportedly fired for the poor performance of the company under his leadership.
Ukrainska Pravda stated in June last year that the main issue for Ukroboronprom was the slow progress of the missile program under Husiev.
The Supervisory Board of Ukraine’s state-owned defence production conglomerate chose Huliak from among 20 candidates. Interviews with the shortlisted candidates were conducted by representatives of the U.S. Embassy, U.K. Embassy, and German embassy.
Smetanin listed Huliak’s main tasks. These included increasing production volumes, building a strong anti-corruption system, and completing reforms in the Ukrainian defense sector.
Smetanin said that “Oleh Huliak knows the immediate needs of his army and is an experienced leader.”
Huliak was the commander of the Logistics Forces of Ukraine’s Armed Forces from 2021 until his appointment as Ukroboronprom. He began his military career in 1990 and held several top positions as commander of Ukrainian brigades. Huliak, a decorated major general and former head of the Odesa Military Academy, headed it from 2012 to 2020.
Ukroboronprom, a leading strategic producer of weapons and military equipment in Ukraine, is a leader in the industry. The association is made up of enterprises that manufacture, sell and repair weapons, military equipment and ammunition, as well as develop and manufacture them.
Since the start of the war, the company has moved much of its production overseas and reduced its operations in Ukraine.
In September, the largest government reshuffle since World War II took place. Herman Smetanin became the new head of the Strategic Industries Ministry.
The Air Force reported that Ukrainian air defenses destroyed 59 of 116 Shahed type attack drones launched overnight by Russia. According to reports, 45 drones “lost” in Ukraine and 10 others were still present at the time of publication.
The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces announced that Ukrainian forces destroyed a Russian Buk M3 air defense system over night on October 21.
The election results were tainted with allegations of Russian interference. Moldovan lawmakers claimed that Moscow spent millions in a campaign against Maia Sandu, the pro-Western incumbent and voted down the EU referendum.
According to reports, the attack involved seven tanks and eleven infantry fighting vehicles. Ukrainian forces destroyed seven pieces of Russian equipment.
Interfax, a state-controlled news agency, reported that Dmitry Peskov, spokesperson for the Russian media said: “We see a great deal of contradictory data.”
According to the National Guard of Russia, Russian troops regularly conduct mechanized attacks near Selydove. These assaults involve three to five armored vehicle.
Yonhap reported that South Korea summoned Georgy Zinoviev as the Russian ambassador to Seoul on October 21 to protest the dispatching of North Korean troops in support of Moscow’s war with Ukraine.
According to internal documents of the agency, the IAEA has signed at least two agreements for research in Crimea that included fieldwork. The deals were signed from 2016 to 2019, and the first deal was reportedly extended during the summer of 2019.
A military intelligence source told Kyiv Independent that Russian authorities had detained 18 North Koreans who had abandoned their positions in Russia’s Kursk Oblast.
Dmitry Rogozin said that the Russian occupation of Zaporizhzhia Oblast was a major target for the enemy’s unmanned vessels.
According to Ukraine’s Military Intelligence (HUR), Russian Pilot Dmitry Golenkov sustained multiple head injuries. These were probably caused by a heavy hammer.
CNN reported that U.S. defense secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Kyiv, Ukraine on October 21 to ensure continued support before the uncertain U.S. presidential election.
According to regional authorities, the wounded include seven women ranging in age from 22 to 83 years old and five men ages 21 to 38. The attack caused some areas of the city to lose electricity.
This includes 1,710 casualties that Russian forces have suffered in the last day.
The memoir “Patriot” was compiled from the prison diaries of the Russian opposition leader and edited in part Yulia Nalnaya. The book will be published in 22 languages including Russian.
According to the drone’s creators, the Wild Hornets Group, “Sting” is able to fly altitudes of up to 10,000 feet with speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour. It is the world’s first drone designed to specifically target Russia’s Shaheds arsenal.
In his evening address of October 20, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Russia had launched 6,130 drones of the type Shahed since 2024.
On October 20, a large rally in Tbilisi’s Freedom Square in support of Georgia‘s accession to European Union was held ahead of the upcoming Parliamentary Election scheduled for October 26.
Belarusian Hajun, a monitoring group, reported that the Belarusian Air Force had downed an Russian Shahed drone in Belarus’ Homel Oblast over night on October 20. This is only the third time that a Belarusian aircraft downed a Russian drone that entered its airspace.
Sources told the Kyiv Independent that drones were used to target the large Sverdlov Plant, owned by the state and located in Dzerzhinsk, a city in the Nizhny Novgorod Region. This is about 900 kilometers into Russia.
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