In Ukrainian media circles, it has been rumored for months that Volodymyr Zelensky He was preparing an ambitious restructuring of his government team. Finally, yesterday, six ministers and several senior officials announced their resignation. The president, with a country besieged by Russian bombings and plagued by serious economic and social problems resulting from the war, argued that they needed “new energy”. “These steps,” he continued, “are linked to strengthening our State in several directions.”
Dmytro Kulebaforeign minister since March 2020, is the most significant casualty of the biggest government reshuffle since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the former minister’s name is appearing in Kyiv’s political circles. Andrii Shybha as the main candidate for the succession.
Some media outlets recall Kuleba’s clashes with Poland, one of the great allies in the war, in the search for explanations. The latest incident was over the lack of progress in the exhumation of the victims of the massacre of Poles by Ukrainian nationalists during World War II in Volhynia. The minister even downplayed the value of the process, to the offence of the Polish government. However, the MP Alexander Merezhko says in the Ukrainian newspaper The Kyiv Independent that “it is a great change that has been expected for a long time”, ruling out the Polish issue as a difference-maker.
Some voices admit that the changes are numerous, but question their significance. “There are no profound changes,” he says. Petro Burkovskyiiexecutive director of the influential Ilko Kucheriv Foundation, told this newspaper. “The changes are not structural.” This expert, well acquainted with the halls of power in Ukraine, argues that Kuleba “was not independent,” “he did what he was asked to do.” “He was only one of the channels used by the president to contact the outside world,” he adds, “and not even the most important one.” The most prominent, he says, are Zelensky himself and Andriy Yermakhis right-hand man, which increases his doubts about the reason for the decision. In any case, “the changes,” he maintains, “are not news to those who cover political news on a daily basis.”
Other analysts point out that, on this occasion, Zelensky is betting on a more ambitious agenda with a closer circle of trust, with a concentration of ministries and even more focused on the war, just a few weeks before traveling to the United States to present “a plan for victory” to the current president, Joe Bidenand the two candidates for succession, the Democrat Kamala Harris and the republican Donald Trump.
Kuleba is the most famous of the fallen outside Ukraine, but the list includes the deputy minister Olga Stefanishynanegotiator of the process of accession to the European Union, already Rostyslav Shurmahead of the presidential office. The ministers of energy, justice and environment, among others, also left the government.
It is Zelensky’s most far-reaching reshuffle to date. But dismissals and resignations have been common since February 2022. Last year he dismissed Oleskii Reznikov as Minister of Defense and replaced him with Rustem UmerovIn February, he retired Valery Zaluzhny as head of the Armed Forces and opted for Oleksandr Sirsky. In May, suspicions of corruption led him to dismiss Mikola Solskii as Minister of Agriculture. A week ago, the sacrificed was Oleksii Monthhead of the Air Force, after the accident in which they lost one of the F-16 fighter jets delivered by the Netherlands.
Insufficient changes?
Zelensky’s call for “new energy” comes at a critical moment for the country, battered by Russian attacks, in need of more military assistance from its Western allies and permission from the United States, Britain and France to strike military targets inside Russia with their long-range missiles.
Burkovskyi criticises the fact that the president has not gone further in reforming and that there have not been more dismissals and resignations. “There is no news on education, health or anti-corruption policies”he argues, “and these are issues that we have to resolve if we want to win the war.”
There are hundreds of thousands of children still in the country with no chance of continuing their education normally, and “as a father and as a soldier,” says Burkovskyi, now enlisted, “I am shocked that teachers’ salaries have been cut.” The same is true for doctors and nurses in hospitals. Many of them have left the country to work in Poland, Germany or Italy, and the deterioration of healthcare is affecting the elderly and the chronically ill.
The source also points out the lack of progress in the fight against corruption. “We are not the most corrupt country in the world, as they preach.” Orbán and Trump“We have a lot of problems,” he says, “but we still have a lot of problems.” He insists that the fight against corruption is “a cause of national survival,” a way of maintaining the support of allies such as Germany and Spain: not only at the front, but also to finance schools and hospitals. “The president must decide whether he wants to win the war or whether he wants his people to become rich,” he says, “because you can’t achieve both at the same time.”
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