A series of high-profile Ukrainian government ministers have turned in their resignations this week, with Kyiv asserting this is part of a long-planned major government reshuffle.
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister, two deputy Prime Ministers, the Justice Minister, the Environment Minister, the head of the State Property Fund, and the head of the national power grid have all been fired or resigned this week. While the first resignation letters went in before the Ukrainian government announced a reshuffle was happening, that is very much the narrative now, although as drily observed by the Kyiv Independent, “the reasons for the resignations were not specified”.
Whatever the issues behind the matter, in most cases ministerial changes in Ukraine are presented as resignations — even if they were fired — because that is a formality of the Ukrainian Parliament, which ahs to ratify resignations. Indeed, several of those changes were signed off by the Rada on Wednesday although it turned down the resignation of two officials.
The change is the biggest in Ukraine’s leadership since the war of defence against Russia began, and will deprive the country of some of its best known leaders. Outgoing Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is probably the best known member of the Ukrainian government except President Volodymyr Zelensky, marked out as much for his tireless diplomatic missions to foreign capitals as for being the last Ukrainian politician to still wear a suit and tie daily, rather than the otherwise obligatory quasi-military fatigues.
Also in the public eye globally is armaments production minister Oleksandr Kamyshin, who was subject to a series of personal profiles early in the war over his unlikely celebrity status as the media-savvy man running the suddenly strategically critical Ukrainian national railways. He submitted his resignation on Tuesday.
Whether resignation or dismissal, the reasons behind the removal of some figures has been the subject of speculation. The Times of London notes Kuleba’s resignation came just days after he sparked a diplomatic rift with Poland, a key Ukraine ally, over the genocide of Poles by Ukrainian nationalists in the 1940s. Ukraine Pravda revealed he was going to be “fired” the day before it was made public, citing internal sources.
The head of Ukraine’s state power grid operator Ukrenergo, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, was sacked on Monday, reportedly over failing to keep the lights amid concerted Russian efforts to bomb energy infrastructure.
Supporters of President Zelensky say the sudden flutter of resignations is part of the plan and more will follow. The leader of Zelensky’s Servant of the People political party David Arakhamia said “as promised” the reshuffle was underway, more than 50 per cent of the government would be changed, the firings would continue, and new appointments would begin on Thursday.
Arakhamia also called on the public to pay attention onto to “official news”, suggesting the government is trying to quash some rumours about what is going on.
President Zelensky put his own angle on things in remarks on Tuesday night, saying: “Autumn will be extremely important for Ukraine. And our state institutions must be set up so that Ukraine achieves all the results we need – all of us. To do this, we need to strengthen some areas in the government, and we have prepared personnel decisions.” Zelensky said there would be some changes in “certain areas of our foreign and domestic policy”.
While the scale and pace of change is unprecedented, Zelensky has proven willing to turn over officers and ministers who he feels are underperforming over the course of the war. As ever, these changes are accompanied with promises of a change of direction, or intensification in the war effort. Indeed, the firings or resignations this week strongly echo the dismissal of Zelensky’s entire war cabinet nearly exactly a year ago, just before he flew to the United States for the United Nations General Assembly.
President Zelensky will return to the U.N. next week for the same meeting, and per reports he is to present a “victory plan” to President Biden.
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