Parliament appoints Monastyrsky as Ukraine's interior minister

Some 271 MPs voted for the decision at a parliament meeting on Friday, July 16, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

Arsen Avakov tendered his resignation as Ukraine's interior minister on July 13.

In the evening of the same day, MPs from the Servant of the People party discussed Avakov's resignation at a meeting of the faction attended by President Volodymyr Zelensky, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, and Head of the President's Office Andriy Yermak.

It emerged after the meeting that the main candidate for the interior minister's post was the current chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Law Enforcement, Denys Monastyrsky. He said he had accepted the president's proposal to head the Ukrainian Interior Ministry.

The parliament dismissed Avakov on July 15. On the same day, the Verkhovna Rada received a motion from Shmyhal to appoint Monastyrsky to the interior minister's post.

Monastyrsky was elected an MP from the Servant of the People faction in August 2019.

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