KYIV — Kicking off a major reshuffle of Ukraine’s top brass, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday put forward Yuliia Svyrydenko to lead the Ukrainian government.
Svyrydenko, current deputy prime minister and minister of economic development, is a long-standing loyal ally of Zelenskyy and his enigmatic main adviser, Andriy Yermak.
She has also been a driving force behind the Ukraine-U.S. mineral deal, a controversial economic partnership that gives America access to profit from the Eastern European country’s vast mineral resources.
If confirmed by Ukraine’s parliament, Svyrydenko would replace current Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, who has been in post since March 2020.
Zelenskyy met with Shmyhal on Sunday and discussed strategic steps for the transformation of the executive branch, the second major wartime reshuffle of the government.
“There will be changes. In particular, in the defense sector, in all projects for the sake of our stability — the state and society,” Zelenskyy said of the shake-up after meeting Shmyhal. “We also need to significantly reduce noncritical state expenditures and, as much as possible, through deregulation, direct public forces for the sake of economic development.”
On Friday, Zelenskyy also announced he intends to appoint current Defense Minister Rustem Umerov to the post of Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S. The current envoy, Oksana Markarova — Kyiv’s diplomatic veteran in D.C. — was in September embroiled in a scandal with Donald Trump’s administration for organizing a visit from Zelenskyy to a battleground state during the U.S. presidential election campaign.
Shmyhal, Ukraine’s longest-standing prime minister so far, is being considered to get Umerov’s post in the defense ministry, several Ukrainian media outlets have reported, citing government officials.
The government changes might happen as soon as this week, with the Ukrainian parliament dismissing the government members on Wednesday and appointing them to new posts on Thursday, a Ukrainian MP told POLITICO.
While the vote is expected to be a formality, some opposition voices have argued the president’s office is taking an overly authoritative role in appointing candidates.
“The initiative for changes in the government does not come from the parliament, which appoints it in a parliamentary-presidential republic, but from the president’s office,” Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, a Ukrainian opposition MP and head of the European integration committee told POLITICO.
“The decision will come in a ready-made form, and the majority will simply press the ‘Yes’ button. And this is another vivid illustration of the fact that, unfortunately, now the president and his closest entourage perceive state institutions as stamp machines, and the balance of powers as a formality,” Klympush-Tsintsadze said.
Zelenskyy’s office told POLITICO it had no response to the politician’s claims. It has previously pushed back at claims of presidential overreach.
The post Zelenskyy names new Ukraine PM in major government reshuffle appeared first on Politico.
