Ukrainian Government Overhaul, Day Two: Another Set of Ministers Voted In

The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s legislature, approved the resignations of Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba, Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk, and the head of Ukraine’s State Property Fund, Vitaliy Koval.

The Verkhovna Rada also appointed new Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Justice, and Eurointegration; Ministers for local communities, Environmental, Sports, Culture, and Veteran Affairs; and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources.

Kyiv Post roll call of all new officials forming the government in autumn

The Verkhovna Rada voted for the resignation of the Head of Ukraine’s State Property Fund, Vitaliy Koval. He was then voted on to become the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food.

Svitlana Hrynchuk was appointed as the new Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources – she previously worked in the Ministry of Energy as the deputy minister.

Former general director of Ukroboronprom Herman Smetanin was voted in as the head of the Ministry of Strategic Industries. Previously, the institution was led by Oleksandr Kamyshin who resigned the day before with his resignation being accepted by vote of the parliament.

As divulged by the Kyiv Post source close to the government, Olha Stefanishyna became the Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, and Minister of Justice, meaning two ministries were joined into one.

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Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk also resigned, which was accepted by a vote of Ukraine’s parliament. She had been appointed head of the Ministry of Reintegration in November 2021. She had previously worked as a lawmaker, and before that as the mayor of the city of Rava-Ruska, Lviv region, for five years.

Matviy Bidny was the acting Minister of Youth and Sport – now the parliament voted for him to be the minister without the “acting” title.

The Ukrainian legislature appointed Natalia Kalmykova as Minister of Veteran Affairs. She was previously a deputy defense minister since September 2023. Before that, she was the acting director of the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation

Promotions from the President’s Office

Previously an employee in the Kyiv city council and an ex-deputy head of the presidential office Oleksiy Kuleba also became a minister. He is now the Vice Prime Minister of Local Communities and Territorial Development.

In this position, he will manage decentralization, infrastructure and recovery. Lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak mentioned in his blog that these three areas of focus, previously under three separate ministries, were now united in one.

Another ex-presidential office employee also got a promotion – Mykola Tochytskyi was voted in as the Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications. Tochytskyi had previously worked as a deputy of Andriy Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

New Foreign Minister

The Verkhovna Rada also voted to accept the resignation of Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba. Sybiha Andrii, previously, First Deputy Foreign Minister was voted in to replace him.

It did not happen instantly though: the lawmakers postponed the vote on him on Wednesday, Sept. 4 without explanation only to vote positively on the next day after the meeting of the president’s party majority.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba was appointed in March 2020, serving in the ministry for more than four years. However, he did not want to leave.

According to reports from people close to the minister, Kuleba did not want to resign, even though he was tired, and wanted to continue working as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. “Dmytro did not voluntarily… [he wrote in a statement – ed.] It was not his will. It was a political decision,’ the source told Kyiv Post.

Who was appointed and fired previously during the government reshuffle

On Wednesday, Sept. 4, the Verkhovna Rada approved the resignations of Minister for Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshin, the Minister of Justice Denys Maliuska, the Minister of European Integration Olha Stefanishyna, and the Minister of Environmental Protection Ruslan Strilets.

Minister for Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshin is reportedly joining the President’s Office in place of Rostyslav Shurma, a top aide in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, who was dismissed by presidential decree a day before.

Justice Minister Maliuska is exhausted after his tenure in the office from 2019, a source familiar with the matter told Kyiv Post, indicating the reason for his resignation.

According to the Kyiv Post source in the government, Olha Stefanishyna is supposed to take over the role in the Ministry of Justice and join it with the Ministry of European Integration since the process of the EU accession is closely tied to reviewing and rewriting legislation to make it adhere to EU law.