Zelensky taps Umerov, a well-respected govt official & Crimean activist, to ‘steady ship’ at Defense

As Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine reaches a new grim milestone – 18 months of war, Crimea is now the Ukrainians’ “center of gravity of this current operation”, explains former UK Military Intelligence Officer Dr. Frank Ledwidge to FRANCE 24’s Tom Burges Watson. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is “linking Crimea very very deeply now with the Ukrainian government”, adds Dr. Ledwidge, which played heavily in Zelensky’s decision to replace Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov with Rustem Umerov, an economist, a Crimean Tatar lawmaker and a highly revered international negotiator. Umerov’s new powerful role comes on the heels of his stellar performance as head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine. France 24’s guest analyst, Dr. Frank Ledwidge, is also a Senior Lecturer in Strategy at Portsmouth University and a Visiting Fellow for the Transatlantic Dialogue Centre Think Tank.