Herman Smetanin resigns as head of Ukroboronprom, Ukraine’s largest defense company, after a Russian strike on one of its warehouses near Kyiv kills nine
Herman Smetanin, the director general of Ukroboronprom, has announced his resignation. In a post on his Telegram channel, he said it had been “an honor to lead Ukraine’s largest defense company.”
Smetanin thanked those he had worked with and expressed special gratitude to the General Staff and the Armed Forces of Ukraine for their “incredible fortitude and strength.”
Smetanin, who had run Ukroboronprom since June 2023, gave no reason for his departure.
In the early hours of July 6, Russian forces launched a missile and drone strike on a Ukroboronprom warehouse in the city of Vyshneve, in the Kyiv region. Nine people were killed, dozens of homes were destroyed outright, and more than 300 others were damaged.
Yulia Svyrydenko, who was serving as Ukraine’s prime minister at the time, said Vyshneve had suffered “the most extensive destruction of residential areas at any point in the full-scale invasion.”
After the strike on Vyshneve, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “There will certainly be dismissals at Ukroboronprom, because the warehouse belonged to one of Ukroboronprom’s enterprises.”
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