Ukraine's president reshuffles cabinet seeking 'new energy’ amid losses at war

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has reshuffled his cabinet, seeking "new energy" amid continued losses at the war front against Russian troops.

Zelensky named eight new ministers on Thursday. All of them are considered to be loyalists to the actor-turned-politician and allied with Andriy Yermak, the head of the president’s office.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was replaced with Andrii Sybiha. Kuleba and other ministers had already submitted their resignations on Tuesday.

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Sybiha is a career diplomat, who had worked in Zelensky's office in past years as one of several deputy heads of the presidential office, overseeing foreign policy and strategic partnerships. He was Ukraine's ambassador to Turkey from 2016 to 2021 and headed a directorate for consular services at the Foreign Ministry before that.

Mykola Tochytskyi has been chosen as minister for culture and strategic communications.

Tochytskyi is also a career diplomat who worked as a deputy head of Zelensky's office overseeing foreign policy from April 2024. He earlier served as Ukraine's ambassador in Belgium and Luxembourg and was also Ukraine's representative in the Council of Europe.

Oleksiy Kuleba has been named as deputy pm for infrastructure and regions. He served as the regional governor of the Kiev region that surrounds the capital.

The deputy PM for EU integration and justice minister is Olha Stefanyshyna.

Stefanyshyna, a lawyer by education, served as the deputy prime minister in charge of Kiev's accession to the European Union and NATO military alliance from June 2020.

She retains that portfolio and gains the functions of the old justice ministry as head of a bigger ministry combining the two.

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Stefanyshyna is regarded as one of the key negotiators in Ukraine's efforts to join the EU, she spent most of her professional life gaining distance between the former Soviet republic and Russia, trying to get Ukraine attached to the West.

The agriculture minister is Vitaliy Koval. He served as the head of the State Property Fund, Ukraine's main privatization agency from November 2023. Before that, he worked as the governor of the Rivne region in western Ukraine. He also worked in the private sector, serving in various senior positions in banking, transport and agriculture.

The new minister for strategic industries is Herman Smetanin. The 32-year-old tank design engineer is the youngest minister in the cabinet.

The minister for veterans, Nataliia Kalmykova, is a physician by education, who worked as a deputy defense minister from September 2023.

Before that, she headed Ukraine's Veterans Fund and worked in Come Back Alive, one of the largest Ukrainian charity organizations.

Svitlana Hrynchuk is the new environment minister. She was a deputy energy minister from September 2023. She was also a deputy environment minister for several months in 2022. Before that, she was an adviser to the finance minister and headed a working group in the Ministry of Energy on environmental protection and climate change.

Zelensky confessed the reshuffle is taking place at a critical time since the war broke out between Ukraine and its neighboring country, Russia.

Kursk incursion will not stop Russian forces' advance in east Ukraine: Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin says Kursk incursion will not stop Russian advance in east Ukraine

Last month, Ukraine launched a border attack on Russian territory in Kursk, taking the government officials in Moscow by surprise. Now, Russian military officials say the move was one of Kiev’s biggest tactical mistakes of the war.

They say the Kursk operation tied down thousands of trained Ukrainian troops for little real gain.

“By transferring rather large and well-trained units to these border areas with us, the enemy weakened itself in key areas, and our troops accelerated offensive operations,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

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