[4] After 50 years of exile and the beginning of Crimean Tatar repatriation during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Umerov family returned to their homeland in Crimea, which had since become part of the Ukrainian SSR, in 1989.

[7][self-published source] ASTEM manages investments in the fields of telecommunication, information technology, and infrastructure, mainly communication towers and fiber-optic networks.

On 3 September 2023, Umerov was nominated by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to replace Oleksii Reznikov as the Minister of Defence of Ukraine.

Umerov collaborated on a bill exempting internally-displaced persons from tourist tax for living in temporary accommodations[22] that was signed into law on 12 October 2020.

[25] In May 2020, he appealed to the UN, the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the OSCE, NATO, and the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation to honor victims of the Crimean Tatar genocide and condemn Russia's violations of their rights and freedoms.

[26] In January 2021, as part of a delegation to the PACE winter session, Umerov raised the issue of violation of the rights of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars in Crimea by the Russian occupiers.

[28][29][30] According to a source close to Ukraine's security forces, Umerov established good relations with Turkey’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan.

[36] In July 2020, he drafted a statement by the Verkhovna Rada on the illegitimacy of an all-Russian vote on amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation concerning Crimean territory.

[38] In September of that year, Umerov joined a group developing a state strategy for the de-occupation of Crimea and Sevastopol, supported by the parliamentary Human Rights Committee.

Its purposes are to implement a parliamentary track for Crimea, and to create an inter-parliamentary assembly to advocate the restoration of control of portions of the Black and Azov Seas.

[43] He drafted a parliamentary appeal to the UN and other bodies condemning the occupation of Crimea and Sevastopol, violations of human rights and freedoms, and calling for the release of Ukrainian political prisoners.

[46] Umerov co-founded the international organization Bizim Qırım that year, which aimed to preserve national interests and promote the rights of the Crimean Tatars.

[53] In 2013, Umerov co-founded the ASTEM Foundation to improve public life via social innovation, regional communities, education, medicine, sports, culture, human rights, and religious freedom.

[55] The Ukrainian Navy tugboat Yañı Qapu, damaged by the Russian military during the November 2018 Kerch Strait incident, was repaired in May 2020 with ASTEM Foundation support.

[58] It was reported on 28 March that Umerov, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, and another lawmaker developed symptoms consistent with poisoning after the event, including "red eyes, constant and painful tearing, and peeling skin on their hands and faces".

[11] On 28 January 2025, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine launched a "pre-trial investigation" into Umerov over his dismissal of Marina Bezrukova as director of the Defense Procurement Agency and his appointment of Arsen Zhumadilov to replace her, citing a complaint from the Anti-Corruption Action Center and the appointment being made despite the DPA's decision to extend Bezrukova's tenure.