The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine has announced the appointment of Anna Hvozdyar as Deputy Minister of Defence. This is reported by RBC-Ukraine, citing an official statement from the defence ministry. The new deputy minister's area of responsibility is the country's defence-industrial complex and the export of Ukrainian defence solutions. The personnel decision is the latest step in building the team of the new Defence Minister, Yevhen Hmara, who was confirmed by the Verkhovna Rada on 19 August 2026.
Two key vectors: supplying the front and export potential
According to the Ministry of Defence's position, the main priority of Hvozdyar's work is meeting the needs of the front: Ukrainian military personnel must receive domestically produced weapons in a timely manner and in sufficient quantities to counter Russian threats. The second, no less important direction is the export of defence solutions, the production volume of which exceeds the current needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The ministry emphasises that exports can become a tool for developing mutually beneficial partnerships with Ukraine's allies and a source of additional funding for the defence sector. The overarching task, as formulated by the Ministry of Defence, is to build a strong defence-industrial complex that "supplies the front with what is needed now and creates a long-term advantage for Ukraine".
Career path: from the private sector to defence structures
Anna Hvozdyar has many years of experience in industrial and defence policy. In the public sector she held the positions of Deputy Minister for Strategic Industries and Deputy Minister of Defence. She began her professional career in the private sector: from October 2012 to August 2021 she headed the company "Protege" LLC. From July 2015 to April 2016 she worked as an adviser to the head of the Luhansk Military-Civilian Administration. In May 2021 she joined Serhiy Prytula's Charity Foundation — initially as a part-time deputy director, and from August 2021 to September 2022 she held that position on a full-time basis. From September 2022 to September 2023 she led the foundation as its director.
Context: a large-scale reshuffle in the defence ministry
Hvozdyar's appointment is part of a series of personnel changes that have been ongoing in the defence ministry since mid-summer 2026. Following the resignation of Mykhailo Fedorov's government, the post of Defence Minister was taken by Yevhen Hmara, who was officially confirmed by parliament on 19 August. Building his own team, the new minister has been appointing deputies in sequence. In early August, one of the first to be appointed was Mykhailo Shvydkyi, who was tasked with strengthening the Ministry of Defence's coordination with the Armed Forces and with the General Staff and Commander-in-Chief Mykhailo Drapatyi. Hvozdyar's arrival effectively fills the key industrial-economic direction within the ministry's structure.
What this means for Ukraine's defence policy
Carving out the defence-industrial complex and exports as a separate deputy-ministerial direction shows that Kyiv views the defence industry not only as a tool for supplying the front but also as a strategic economic asset. By design, arms exports are meant to generate additional financial flows and strengthen military-technical cooperation with allies. For Hvozdyar, who has moved from private business through the industrial and defence public apparatus, this is, it seems, a return to a structure where she has worked before — but at a higher level of responsibility and in conditions where the defence sector is undergoing a period of large-scale restructuring.
