Oleksii Reznikov

Oleksii Reznikov served as Ukraine’s minister of defense in 2021-2023 and as minister for reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine in 2020-2021. As a deputy mayor of Kyiv in 2014-2018, he headed the Ukrainian delegation at the Congress of local and regional authorities of the Council of Europe in 2015-2016. A lawyer by training and profession, Mr. Reznikov was the deputy head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Minsk negotiations on the peaceful settlement of the war in Ukraine’s east and Russian occupation of the Donbas. In 2004, he was a legal counsel to presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko, bringing the case of election falsification to Ukraine’s Supreme Court and winning the decision for election rerun. Mr. Reznikov was awarded the Order of the Cross of Vytis for special determination, sacrifice, and leadership in the defense of Western democratic values and the fight for a safe Europe by the President of Lithuania, the Silver Cross of Merit by the President of Poland, the Medal of Merit by the Defense Minister of Lithuania, and the Medal for outstanding leadership during the war by the Defense Minister of Denmark.