Resignation of Kyiv’s Top Diplomat Caps Sweeping Wartime Shakeup

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(Bloomberg) — Ukraine’s foreign minister became the latest cabinet minister to resign as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pushed ahead with the most sweeping government shakeup in the 2 1/2-year war with Russia.  

Dmytro Kuleba, the public face of Zelenskiy’s diplomatic effort to forge a path to NATO and the European Union, became the sixth cabinet member to submit his resignation in the last two days. He’ll likely be replaced by his deputy, Andrii Sybiha, according to a person familiar with the overhaul who spoke on condition of anonymity. 

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The shakeup leaves Western allies guessing after they were caught off guard by last month’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. With Zelenskiy’s firing of his top general and the removal of a minister who worked closely with the US earlier this year, Kyiv has a track record of raising questions over the rationale of abrupt personnel changes. 

And while several top officials will get new posts, the president’s reshuffle caps a week of turmoil as Russia steps up missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and its forces quicken their advance in the eastern Donetsk region. 

International Monetary Fund monitors are meanwhile poised to raise pressure to devalue the currency among measures to shore up Kyiv’s financing, Bloomberg reported. IMF staff began meetings in Kyiv Wednesday. 

Looming above all is the approaching cold season — the third full winter since the war began — as the nation’s energy infrastructure has been decimated by attacks. Ukrainians have already grappled with rolling blackouts during the summer months. 

“Autumn is going to be very important, and our government institutions have to be tuned to help Ukraine achieve its results,” Zelenskiy said in a daily video address late Tuesday. “We have to strengthen certain areas in the cabinet, and staff decisions have already been prepared.” 

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‘Different Emphasis’

Kuleba, Ukraine’s youngest-ever foreign minister at 43, has been a visible interlocutor with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other NATO foreign ministers. He will now focus on strengthening Ukraine’s relations with NATO as it seeks accession, according to a person familiar with the reshuffle, who spoke on condition of anonymity. 

And while Kuleba has been the foreign policy chief, some of Zelenskiy’s main diplomatic projects — such as security guarantees, the so-called peace blueprint and engagement with the Global South — went to top presidential advisor Andriy Yermak. Incoming minister Sybiha had also worked as Yermak’s deputy since 2021. 

Volodymyr Fesenko, the head of the Penta research institute in Kyiv, said the overhaul had been signaled for months — and attributed the changes to the president’s “emotional fatigue” over the functioning of the cabinet and a desire to give “new impetus” to the government. 

Kuleba’s departure follows the resignations of Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna — who is likely to receive a broader mandate — as well as the ministers of justice, environment, reintegration of occupied territories and the minister overseeing strategic industries. The Ukrainian parliament will vote to approve the resignations during its next session, the assembly speaker, Ruslan Stefanchuk, said in a post on Facebook.

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The president said he expected a “somewhat 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 rebooting the government, there was no respite from Russia’s attacks. An early morning aerial strike in the western city of Lviv — far from the front line — killed at least five people. Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said at least 35 were injured and some 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 kilometers (186 miles) southeast of Kyiv, in one of the most brutal attacks in the war.  

Zelenskiy’s shakeup reached other parts of the administration. The head of the state-owned Ukrenergo power grid, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, was dismissed over accusations of overseeing frequent blackouts and failing to provide sufficient protection to energy infrastructure. That prompted the resignation of two supervisory board members, who called the move “politically motivated.” 

The head of the state property fund and the deputy head of the presidential office who oversaw economic issues also resigned. 

—With assistance from Daryna Krasnolutska and Volodymyr Verbianyi.

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