Lieutenant General Ivan Havryliuk, a former head of the army’s logistics and an ex-first deputy defense minister, is the new head of Ukroboronprom, Ukraine’s state defense-industrial group, the company announced on 3 November. He won an open contest and takes over from a stand-in who had run the group since its previous chief left in July.
Russia keeps hitting Ukraine’s arms plants, and Ukraine’s arms industry keeps growing faster than the state can pay for it. Its capacity rose from about $1 billion a year at the start of the full-scale invasion to $35 billion, but domestic contracts covered only a third of that last year, leaving factories idling below capacity. Kyiv is betting on controlled exports of surplus weapons to fund production, and most new growth has moved to private firms. For the state’s own factories, the task is to produce more with too little money, under Russian fire.
Chosen in an open contest
The supervisory board picked Havryliuk after a competitive selection and final interviews with candidates, Ukroboronprom said. The Ukrainian office of the international recruiter Amrop Partnership searched for and assessed the candidates. The board announced the contest on 1 September.
The company tied his appointment to three goals. His experience and “deep understanding of the needs of Ukraine’s Defense Forces” are “important preconditions” for developing the company, “building up the enterprises’ production capacity,” and strengthening Ukraine’s defense industry, it said. It called the move another step in turning Ukroboronprom into a modern, competitive defense company.
From the army’s rear to the Defense Ministry
Havryliuk, 55, studied at the Sumy Higher Artillery Command School and the National Defense Academy of Ukraine. He headed the Armed Forces’ rear services, the army’s logistics branch, from 2014 to 2018. He then became deputy chief of the General Staff.
In October 2023, the government made him deputy defense minister, and in May 2024, first deputy. He resigned in April 2025. He later told a parliamentary investigative commission he did so after then-Defense Minister Rustem Umierov said at a meeting there were rumors he was stealing money on arms purchases. At the time, Umierov said Havryliuk would stay on the ministry’s team. Havryliuk returned as first deputy in July 2025.
In February 2026, he became a deputy minister under Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, and the government dismissed him in May. As first deputy minister, he said in February 2025 that Russia had recruited 427,000 soldiers in 2024.
His predecessor left after Vyshneve
Herman Smetanin led the group of roughly 100 enterprises, which make missiles, drones, armored vehicles, and ammunition, from June 2023, with a break as Minister for Strategic Industries. During that break, the board appointed retired General Oleh Huliak, another former head of the army’s logistics, in October 2024. Smetanin announced his departure on 14 July.
Days earlier, a Russian strike set off an ammunition depot of one of the group’s enterprises in Vyshneve, near Kyiv. The depot stood next to homes in breach of the law. The blast damaged 13 hectares of residential buildings and killed eight residents, the town council later told the Kyiv Independent. ZN.ua put the toll at nine.
The board then put Serhii Boiev, a former deputy minister for strategic industries and deputy defense minister, in charge until the contest picked a new head.
New missiles for Ukraine’s air defense
The group has been showing new weapons abroad. At Poland’s MSPO arms fair in September, its Luch Design Bureau presented the RK-19, a new missile for Soviet-era Osa air defense systems. A Ukroboronprom image at the same fair showed the Koral, a home-built missile designed to hit ballistic targets.
