Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba became the latest top official to tender his resignation on Wednesday, ahead of an expected major government reshuffle as yet another wave of Russian attacks overnight killed at least seven people, including a child.
As Ukraine’s top diplomat, Kuleba has been a prominent fixture in Zelensky’s administration and one of the most public-facing, especially dealing with overseas officials. He was seen as a capable politician and a safe pair of hands, one of the strongest members of Zelensky’s cabinet. His offer to resign comes ahead of an expected visit by the president to the United States this month.
Kuleba’s was the latest in a flurry of resignations. Two of Ukraine’s vice premiers, three ministers, the head of the State Property Fund and a top official in Zelensky’s Presidential Office have all quit within the last day or so.
The parliament needs to approve the resignations for them to take effect. They are yet to vote on Kuleba’s exit, but have approved the resignations of the three other ministers and one of the vice premiers on Wednesday. They did not accept the resignation of the property fund head and the deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk, who will remain in their posts.
The parliament is expected to vote on Kuleba’s resignation on Thursday. It will also vote on the two resignations it did not accept on Wednesday and consider the appointment of new ministers
Zelensky has not yet given any explanation for the reshuffle, but said in his nightly address on Tuesday that the coming fall will be “extremely important for Ukraine” and as such “our state institutions must be set up so that Ukraine achieves all the results we need.”
Kuleba and others who tendered their resignations are widely expected to be appointed into other roles in the Zelensky administration. The reshuffle comes at a precarious time for Ukraine. Its troops are under increasing pressure on the eastern frontlines, especially around the strategic city of Pokrovsk that is on the brink of falling to Russia.
It seems likely that Zelensky wants to have his new team in place for his trip to the US later this month, where he is expected to attend the United Nation General Assembly and meet the US President Joe Biden. Zelensky said last week that he intends to present Biden with a new four-part “victory plan” – without providing details.
The last major change Zelensky made to the top echelon of Ukraine’s leadership came in February, when he replaced the former Commander in Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi with Oleksander Syrskyi.
Ukrainian political scientist Mykola Davydiuk said there were no major disagreements within the government. Instead, Zelensky is likely trying to send a signal that he is injecting new energy into his government.
“(The president’s office) wanted to do this last fall, then in December, then in May. They spoke about it so they need to do something, otherwise people will not believe them,” he said, adding that Zelensky likely sensed a window of opportunity for the reshuffle. “The West can’t criticize him now because they have a lot of domestic issues to deal with – the US election, election trouble in Germany and France,” he added.
Ukraine’s parliament will consider the foreign minister’s resignation at one of its plenary meetings soon, Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said on Telegram.
Davyd Arakhamia, the majority leader of Ukraine’s parliament, said Tuesday that there would be major changes expected in the cabinet this week.
“As promised, a major government reset can be expected this week. More than 50% of the Cabinet of Ministers’ staff will be changed,” Arakhamia said on Telegram, adding that new members would be appointed imminently.
Among those who have resigned was the Minister for Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshin, who was in charge of weapons production. He is expected to assume another defense role, Reuters reported.
The resignations also include the justice, environment and reintegration ministers.
“To do this, we need to strengthen some areas of the government… I am also counting on a slightly different weight for certain areas of our foreign and domestic policy,” he said.
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