Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet as War Reaches Critical Juncture

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stepped down from his role on Wednesday following the resignations of several other members of the cabinet amid a wide-ranging reshuffle of the Ukrainian government, the largest since Russia’s full-scale invasion more than two years ago. 

The shake-up comes at a critical juncture in the war, as Ukrainian forces seized a chunk of Russia’s Kursk region in a surprise cross-border offensive last month and as Moscow continues to strike energy facilities across Ukraine, leading to rolling blackouts and sparking fears of a grim winter ahead. 

On Tuesday, at least 51 people were killed in a Russian strike on the central Ukrainian city of Poltava. 

“Fall will be extremely important for Ukraine. And our state institutions must be set up in such a way that Ukraine will achieve all the results we need,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Tuesday evening address. “To do this, we need to strengthen some areas in the government—and personnel decisions have been prepared.”

Zelensky is expected to travel to the United States this month to attend the United Nations General Assembly and has said he intends to present U.S. President Joe Biden as well as presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris with a “victory plan” to win the war. 

Ukrainian lawmakers said they expect another round of firings and resignations—which have been rumored as part of a major government shake-up for some time—to continue Thursday. David Arakhamia, the head of Zelensky’s Servant of the People party in Ukraine’s parliament said in a Telegram message that as much as 50 percent of the cabinet of ministers could be reshuffled. 

In a meeting with his party in the Ukrainian parliament on Wednesday, Zelensky said the reshuffle was intended to reenergize the government and increase efficiency in certain areas, according to Oleksandr Merezhko, the chair of the parliament’s foreign affairs committee.

Rumors of a reshuffle have circulated in Ukraine for months. Almost a quarter of cabinet posts have been held by acting ministers following previous resignations, said Andrii Osadchuk, a member of the Ukrainian parliament with the opposition party Holos. 

Ukrainian analysts struggled to explain the logic of the reshuffle, noting that some of those who have tendered their resignations are expected to remain in senior government posts.

“I don’t think anyone can explain why most of the changes are happening,” said Andrii Borovyk, the executive director of Transparency International Ukraine. “We cannot say that this is a new team in the government,” he added, noting that many of the new appointees currently serve as deputy ministers or as officials in the Presidential Office. 

Ukraine has been under martial law since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, and elections, which are typically held every five years, have been postponed indefinitely.

But with much of Ukraine’s foreign policy already being run by Zelensky and Andriy Yermak, the head of the Presidential Office, former U.S. officials and experts saw the moves as a reshuffling of the deck chairs in Ukraine’s cabinet instead of a full-on personnel makeover.

“These are Ukrainian decisions to make and indeed the president’s decision to make,” said former Ambassador William Taylor, who led the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv in an acting capacity until January 2020. “I don’t anticipate this being a problem in relations with the United States.”

In the past year, Zelensky has taken a firmer hand with personnel changes. In September 2023, he swapped out then-Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov for Rustem Umerov and followed that up by replacing the popular Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhnyi as the commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces with Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi in February. With the new moves likely to continue to see power centralized in the hands of Zelensky and Yermak, some lawmakers chafed at the changes.

“President Zelensky does not believe in institutions—he believes in people,” said one Ukrainian lawmaker who spoke on condition of anonymity to talk about the ongoing changes. “But institutions should work, and institutions should have strategy. That’s not how it’s happening in Ukraine.”

In the wake of Kuleba’s resignation, Andrii Sybiha will be nominated as Ukraine’s foreign minister, two people familiar with the decision said. Sybiha was a deputy to Yermak in the Presidential Office until earlier this year and previously Ukraine’s ambassador to Turkey. 

“He’ll have a different style from Kuleba,” Taylor said. “He’ll probably instill a little more discipline in the [Ministry of Foreign Affairs]. He’s more formal.”

As part of the changes, the portfolio of Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Olha Stefanishyna is expected to be folded into the Justice Ministry, with Stefanishnya tipped to lead the ministry in an expanded role as the country pursues accession talks with the European Union, said Alyona Getmanchuk, the director of the New Europe Center, a Kyiv-based think tank.

Oleksandr Kamyshin will be promoted to become a strategic advisor to the Presidential Office, two Ukrainian officials said, putting the former Ukrainian railroad and arms czar much closer to the powerful president. 

“For me, it’s time for new challenges,” Kamyshin said in a post on X on Wednesday after Ukraine’s parliament voted through his resignation. “I will remain part of the team and continue doing everything possible to bring our Victory closer. I will keep building the Arsenal of the Free World.” Herman Smetanin, the head of Ukroboronprom, the Ukrainian state defense conglomerate, is expected to take over the Ministry of Strategic Industries.

Ukrainian officials said Kuleba may take an ambassador role in Africa, where he has championed boosting Ukraine’s diplomatic footprint to counter rising Russian influence in the global south, or at a major European institution, such as NATO or the Council of Europe. 

Ukraine has been trying to move ahead with anti-corruption reforms. It has moved up 40 places in Transparency International’s scorecard on addressing corruption over the past decade, despite two Russian military invasions. And experts don’t expect the shake-up to further delay those efforts. 

“Let’s be fair: There’s still this ongoing war, a very serious situation in the east. They’re still scrambling to get the weapons and support that they need in Ukraine from the United States and other partners in the west,” said Jonathan Katz, the senior director for the anti-corruption, democracy, and security project at the Brookings Institution. “Certainly some consolidation of power is seen in scenarios like this where you have an ongoing conflict.”