The "Servant of the People" party held a faction meeting on the evening of September 4, at which a major personnel update of the government was discussed. The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky also joined the meeting.
This was reported by the head of the "Servant of the People" faction Davyd Arakhamiya.
According to the results of the faction meeting, personnel rotations may look like this:
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine can be headed by Andrii Sybiha. He currently holds the position of First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, and before that he worked as the Deputy Head of the Office of the President and was the Ambassador of Ukraine to Turkey;
- The Ministry of Communities and Territories Development in its current form will probably be headed by Oleksiy Kuleba. Later, the department will be divided according to the areas of infrastructure and regional policy;
- Olha Stefanishyna can become the Minister of Justice and the Deputy Prime Minister for European integration. Today, the parliament approved her dismissal from the post of the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration;
- The Ministry of Veterans can be headed by the Deputy Minister of Defense Natalia Kalmykova;
- The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy will probably be headed by diplomat and deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Mykola Tochytskyi.
"At this stage, we need to strengthen the fight against disinformation, for this task we need a candidate with international experience," said Arakhamiya about Tochytskyiʼs candidacy.
- The Ministry of Agrarian Policy may be headed by the head of the State Property Fund Vitaliy Koval. Today, the Rada failed to vote for his dismissal;
- The Ministry of Youth and Sports can be headed by Matvii Bidnyi — before that he was acting Minister;
- The Ministry of Ecology can be headed by Deputy Minister of Energy Svitlana Hrynchuk. She is an expert on climate change and environmental protection;
- The “Ukroboronprom” CEO Herman Smetanin may head the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Oleksandr Kamyshin, who previously headed the Ministry of Strategy and Industry, is moving to the Office of the President, where he will continue to deal with the issue of armaments and infrastructure. Also, Iryna Vereshchuk is moving to the Office of the President, and will work as a profile deputy to the head of the Presidentʼs Office.
What preceded
President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke about possible changes in the government back in the summer. Thus, on July 15, at a meeting with journalists, he stated that "there may be changes [in the government]."
On September 3, five ministers — Oleksandr Kamyshin, Denys Malyuska, Ruslan Strilets, Iryna Vereshchuk, and Olha Stefanishyna — submitted their resignations to the Verkhovna Rada, and on September 4 they were joined by the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba.
Already on September 4, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine agreed to dismiss the Minister of Strategic Industries of Ukraine Oleksandr Kamyshin, the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna, the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Ruslan Strilets and the Minister of Justice Denys Malyuska. There were not enough votes for the dismissal of Iryna Vereshchuk, and the dismissal of Dmytro Kuleba was not considered at the meeting.