Zelenski Justifies Kuleba's Dismissal Due to Lack of Enthusiasm in Convincing the West to Supply More Weapons

This Wednesday, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, its unicameral Parliament, concluded its session with the dismissal of only four ministers. However, the dismissal of the Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, the most significant change in this reshuffle, was not even addressed. On Thursday, the chamber resumed its work and definitively voted in favor of dismissing Kuleba.

President Volodymyr Zelenski had to meet with members of the parliamentary bloc named "Servant of the People" on Wednesday night to push for changes in the Executive that he deems essential. During that meeting, David Arakhamia, the spokesperson for the Servant of the People faction, which holds an absolute majority in the chamber, detailed on his Telegram account that "President Zelenski joined us, and various parliamentary groups developed a general plan for the necessary personnel rotation to strengthen the state."

Arakhamia expressed hope that all new ministerial appointments would be made this Thursday, assuring that "the names were presented to the head of state." However, it appears there are significant struggles even within the majority governing formation. Zelenski reiterated to the deputies that "a new impetus must be given to the government" and explained for the first time that Kuleba's dismissal was due to his lack of enthusiasm in convincing the West of the need to supply more weapons to fight against Russia.

The head of the official parliamentary group said that Andrii Sibiga, Kuleba's deputy and former ambassador of Ukraine to Turkey, has been proposed as his replacement at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Sibiga was also "number two" in the Presidential Office in 2021 and Deputy Foreign Minister since last April. Meanwhile, Oleksii Kuleba, currently Deputy Director of the Presidential Office, is proposed for the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Policy. Olga Stefanishyna, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, has been proposed for Justice Minister.

The Ministry of Veterans Affairs is expected to go to Natalia Kalmykova, currently Deputy Defense Minister, and Mykola Tochytskyi is proposed as the new Minister of Culture and Information. Arakhamia noted that "at this stage we must strengthen the fight against disinformation and need a candidate with international experience for this task."

It is expected that Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk will be transferred to the Presidential Office where she will work on social policy. Agriculture could be handed over to Vitalii Koval, currently managing director of the State Property Fund; Sports to Matvii Bednyi; and Ecology to current Deputy Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk. "We discussed creating a new government institution provisionally named Ministry for Returning Ukrainians and are debating who could lead it," added the parliamentary spokesperson.

For now, only four ministers have been officially dismissed: Oleksandra Kamyshina from Industry; Stefanishyna, who has now been offered Justice; Ruslan Strelets from Environment and Natural Resources; and Denys Maliuska from Justice.