Six Ukrainian cabinet ministers have resigned from their portfolios as part of a major government shake-up, meaning a swag of senior plum jobs are up for grabs.
Six Ukrainian cabinet ministers – including the high-profile outgoing Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba – have resigned from their positions in recent days, sending handwritten notes to parliament that offered little explanation for their decisions.
This is the biggest government reshuffle since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. What is known is that Ukraine is fighting to defend the incursion into Russia that it launched nearly a month ago and struggling to hold back a punishing advance of enemy troops in the east.
Davyd Arakhamia, who leads the Servant of the People parliamentary faction, said a handful of names had been solidified as part of the move.
Among the most significant include the high-profile outgoing Kuleba, tipped to be replaced by Andrii Sybiha currently serving as First Deputy Foreign Minister.
Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna is confirmed to move into the justice portfolio and also take charge of European integration, with her old job snapped up by ex-Justice Minister Denys Maliuska.
Outgoing Deputy Prime Minister and Reintegration Minister Iryna Vereshchuk will become Deputy Head at the president’s office, while Oleksandr Kamyshin will trade the position of Strategic Industries Minister for a presidential advisor role.
Herman Smetanin, CEO of arms company Ukroboronprom (Ukrainian Defence Industry), will pick up the Strategic Industries ministry.
Ruslan Strilets’ ecology and environment portfolio is tipped to be soon headed-up by former Deputy Minister of Energy of Ukraine, Svitlana Grynchuk.
Matviy Bidnyi will pick up the Sports Minister portfolio permanently, as well as Nataliia Kalmykova with the Minister for War Veterans Affairs.
Although there is no formal on-the-record comment about what’s driving the shake-up, which is also rumoured to be structural, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday his government needed “new energy” in various areas.
“These new steps are connected to strengthening our state in different directions,” he said at a press conference.
National parliament is confirming the new positions at a vote on Thursday.
