(Bloomberg) — Ukraine’s foreign minister became the latest to resign as President Volodymyr Zelensky pushed through the most sweeping government shakeup in the country’s 2 1/2-year war with Russia.
Most read from Bloomberg
Dmytro Kuleba, the public face of Zelenskyy’s diplomatic effort to forge a path to NATO and the European Union, became the sixth cabinet member to resign in the past two days. He will likely be replaced by his deputy, Andrii Sybiha, according to a person familiar with the review who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The reshuffle has left Western allies guessing after they were caught off guard last month by the incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. With Zelenskyy firing his top general and the resignation of a minister who worked closely with the U.S. earlier this year, Kiev has a track record of raising questions about the rationale for abrupt personnel changes.
While several top officials are getting new posts, the presidential shuffle caps a week of unrest as Russia steps up missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and its troops accelerate their advance in the eastern Donetsk region.
International Monetary Fund monitors, meanwhile, are poised to ramp up pressure to devalue the currency as part of a push to shore up Kyiv’s financing, Bloomberg reported. IMF staff began meetings in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Looming above all is the approaching cold season — the third full winter since the war began — as the country’s energy infrastructure has been decimated by attacks. Ukrainians already face rolling blackouts during the summer months.
“The fall will be very important and our state institutions need to be aligned to help Ukraine achieve its results,” Zelenskiy said in a daily video address Tuesday night. “We need to strengthen certain areas in the Cabinet, and personnel decisions have already been prepared.”
‘Different emphasis’
Kuleba, Ukraine’s youngest-ever foreign minister at 43, has been a visible interlocutor for U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other NATO foreign ministers. He will now focus on strengthening Ukraine’s ties with NATO as the country seeks accession, a person familiar with the reshuffle said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
And while Kuleba is the foreign policy chief, some of Zelenskyy’s key diplomatic projects — such as security guarantees, the so-called peace blueprint and engagement with the Global South — went to top presidential adviser Andriy Yermak. Incoming minister Sybiha has also served as Yermak’s deputy since 2021.
Volodymyr Fesenko, the head of the Penta research institute in Kiev, said the overhaul had been announced for months. He attributed the changes to the president’s “emotional fatigue” over the functioning of the cabinet and a desire to give the government “a new impetus.”
Kuleba’s departure follows the resignations of Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna — who is likely to receive a broader mandate — and the ministers of justice, environment, reintegration of occupied territories and the minister overseeing strategic industries. Ukraine’s parliament will vote on the resignations during its next session, the assembly’s speaker, Ruslan Stefanchuk, said in a Facebook post.
The president said he expected a “slightly different emphasis” in some areas of domestic and foreign policy, without elaborating. He said there would also be changes in the presidential office.
As Ukrainian officials focused on restarting the government, there was no respite from the Russian attacks. An early morning airstrike in the western city of Lviv — far from the front lines — killed at least five people. Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said at least 35 were wounded and about 50 residential buildings in Lviv’s historic center were damaged.
The strike came a day after more than 50 people were killed in the central city of Poltava, some 300 kilometres (186 miles) southeast of Kiev, in one of the most brutal attacks of the war.
Zelenskiy’s reorganization reached other parts of the government. The head of the state-owned Ukrenergo corporation, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, was fired amid allegations of overseeing frequent blackouts and failing to provide adequate protection for the energy infrastructure. That led to the resignation of two members of the supervisory board, who called the move “politically motivated.”
The head of the state property fund and the deputy head of the presidential office, who oversaw economic affairs, also resigned.
–With help from Daryna Krasnolutska and Volodymyr Verbianyi.
Most read from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2024 Bloomberg LP
