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Ukraine’s New Acting Defense Minister Wants His Children’s Generation to Rebuild, Not Fight
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Ukraine's new acting defense minister, Major General Yevhen Khmara, wants to end the war before his two sons, ages 11 and 9, reach conscription age, so they can help rebuild the country rather than fight, according to an interview with political commentator Laura Loomer, published on July 28.
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It was Khmara's first interview since his appointment, and Loomer conducted it exclusively in Kyiv.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed Khmara after he commanded the Security Service of Ukraine's elite Alpha special operations center and then briefly led the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) itself. That battlefield background, Khmara noted, shaped how he now runs the ministry.
Asked by Loomer how a smaller military had inflicted serious damage on Russia, he was direct. "We can't go punch for punch. We have to be asymmetric," Khmara stated. Ukraine's deep strikes on Russian oil infrastructure aim to keep the cost of each operation near 2% of the damage it inflicts, according to Loomer's account.
That approach includes Operation Spiderweb, the drone assault on Russia's strategic bomber fleet carried out by the unit he once led.
He drew a sharp line between how the two sides pick targets. "Russia is interested in terrorizing civilians. Ukraine is interested in protecting its people," Khmara told Loomer. Kyiv concentrates on Russia's military-industrial complex, he added, striking oil refineries and transport hubs that sustain the war.
His command style carried over from Alpha, Loomer reported. "We play by the same rules. I trust them, and they trust me," he explained.
One principle still guides him: "Don't send someone where you're not ready to go yourself." He described the Defense Ministry to Loomer as his next combat mission.
“My personal goal is to finish this war before my sons reach conscription age,” Khmara told Loomer. “I want them to rebuild the country, not fight.”
His sons are nine and 11. In Ukraine, the legal conscription age is 18–25, although compulsory military conscription has been suspended under martial law and replaced by mobilization.
Khmara became acting defense minister on July 17, when the government reorganized its cabinet under new Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi and moved him from the SBU, where he had been acting head.
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