On September 5, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine supported the dismissal and appointment of a number of high-ranking officials.
The most resonant was the resignation of Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. 240 MPs voted in favor of dismissing the Foreign Minister. According to MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak, the foreign minister did not come to the Verkhovna Rada before the vote.
Andrij Sybiha has been appointed as the new head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Prior to that, he worked as First Deputy Minister, Deputy Head of the Presidential Office, and was Ukraine’s Ambassador to Turkey. His candidacy, proposed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, was supported by 258 MPs.
In addition, the MPs voted in favor of the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, who headed the Ministry for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories, at the second attempt. 255 MPs voted in favor of her dismissal.
Olha Stefanishyna was appointed Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, with 253 MPs supporting her candidacy. She was previously responsible for this area of the government.
The Verkhovna Rada also appointed Oleksiy Kuleba to the post of Vice Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine – Minister of Community and Territorial Development. This was voted for by 240 MPs. Prior to that, Kuleba was responsible for regional policy in the Presidential Office.
In addition to these appointments, Matvii Bidnyi became the new Minister of Youth and Sports, having previously been acting.
Deputy Defense Minister Nataliia Kalmykova was appointed to head the Ministry of Veterans Affairs.
The Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine will be headed by Mykola Tochytskyi, who was previously a diplomat. Since September 2021, he has served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, and since April 2024, he has been Deputy Head of the Presidential Office, where he was responsible for international relations.
Svitlana Grynchuk was appointed Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine. Prior to that, she served as Deputy Minister of Energy.
Vitaliy Koval was appointed Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine.
The Verkhovna Rada appointed German Smetanin as Minister of Strategic Industries of Ukraine.
These personnel changes demonstrate an active reboot of the Ukrainian government and new priorities in its work.
