'Large-scale Cabinet Reshuffle' Ukraine Replaces Foreign Minister

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the 5th (local time) nominated Andrii Syvukha, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, as the new Minister of Foreign Affairs.

According to major foreign media, the Ukrainian parliament approved both the resignation of Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and the appointment of Syvukha as the new minister on the same day. Syvukha, who has served as deputy minister since April this year, is a career diplomat who has worked as an ambassador to Turkey, among other positions.

Earlier, Minister Kuleba, along with Vice Prime Minister for European Integration Olha Stefanishyna, Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk, Minister of Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshin, Minister of Justice Denys Maliuska, and Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Ruslan Strilets, submitted their resignations. President Zelenskyy stated on the 3rd that a full administrative overhaul is necessary due to the upcoming strategy to counter the Russian invasion.

Foreign media view this as the largest cabinet reshuffle since the start of the war, with more than half of the cabinet being replaced. However, opposition parties criticized it as a reshuffle aimed at strengthening President Zelenskyy’s power and described it as a revolving-door personnel change.

This reshuffle is taking place as President Zelenskyy plans to visit the United States this month to present a peace plan to U.S. President Joe Biden and is pushing to hold the second Ukraine peace conference in November.

President Zelenskyy is also reported to attend the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) meeting at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany on the 6th to appeal for weapons support from the West. Earlier, on the 3rd, Ukraine suffered its heaviest casualties since the war began, with at least 51 people killed in a Russian airstrike on an eastern military training facility, putting Ukraine on the defensive.