Ukrainian Defense Minister Valery Geletey was dismissed from his post. President Poroshenko signed Geletey's report on his resignation from the post of the Minister of Defense.
Geletey took office as the Defense Minister of Ukraine in the summer of 2014. Prior to that, he worked as the chief of the Department of the State Guard, protecting President Yushchenko. Noteworthy, Russia put Geletey on wanted list for the organization of killings, genocide, for the use of prohibited means and methods of warfare.
Geletey quickly became a notorious media character for his statements. It was Geletey, who blackmailed the EU and the United States by saying "if Ukraine does not receive assistance from the international community, Kiev will be forced to resume the creation of nuclear weapons, which will protect Ukraine from Russia." Also, at a military parade in honor of Independence Day, Geletey promised to conduct a victory parade in the Crimea. "Believe me, the victory parade will take place. It will take place for sure in the Ukrainian Sevastopol," he said. In response, many Ukrainians, Russians and world media outlets accused the official of inciting a war with Russia.
Geletey was also ridiculed for his remarks about the criticism of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, which he ordered to exclude. Moreover, he offered to equate such criticism to treason. "Information aimed at the criticism of the Ministry of Defense is a threat not only for the department, but also for the defensive capability of the state," he said.
The official would also say things like "Russia has applied tactical nuclear weapons against the Ukrainian military" and "Russia uses Donbass as a range ground for new weapons." While making the statement, Geletey publicly demonstrated "state-of-the-art" Russian ammo that was actually made during the Soviet times.
The Minister of Defense of Ukraine also tried to intimidate Russia with new super weapons that Ukraine supposedly received from NATO. "We are in the process of transferring weapons that will stop Putin," he claimed. As for the failures of the Ukrainian army in the fights against Novorossiya, Geletey found a curious reason too. According to him, it was not for bad uniforms, lack of food, incompetence, absence of normal weapons and corruption in the Ministry of Defense, but ... tablets and smartphones that made the so-called anti-terrorist operation fail. "We have many officers, who come to war with tablets and mobile phones. And then information appears that adversely affects these processes. That's why we have had the things that happened," he said.