When Russian forces rolled across the border into Ukraine at the start of their full-scale invasion in February 2022, Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, compared the assault to Nazi Germany’s in World War II.
“Ukraine defeated that evil and will defeat this one,” Mr. Kuleba tweeted. Then he spelled out the country’s mission: “Stop Putin.”
That remained Mr. Kuleba’s central message for 30 months as he rallied wartime international support for Ukraine, courting allies old and new and becoming one of the most recognizable faces representing Kyiv’s cause.
Mr. Kuleba was the most senior of the cabinet officials who Ukraine’s parliament speaker said had offered to resign on Wednesday. It appeared to be the largest reshuffling of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s cabinet since the start of the war, a move Mr. Zelensky described as necessary to “achieve all the results we need.” Mr. Kuleba did not comment publicly on the matter.
As Ukraine’s top diplomat, Mr. Kuleba sought to drum up both military and political support. He was a forceful advocate in the monthslong effort — eventually successful — to convince the United States and Germany to supply Ukraine with the Patriot air-defense system in order to protect against Russian missile attacks.
“Ukraine is currently the only country in the world that is subject to ballistic missile attacks almost every day,” he said during a news briefing in March. “Patriots should be deployed here, in Ukraine, to protect real human lives, and not to remain in places where the missile threat is zero.”
Mr. Kuleba has also been active in advancing Ukraine’s most ambitious diplomatic goals: joining the NATO military alliance and becoming a member of the European Union. Both efforts faced resistance from some allies, who worried that granting membership to Ukraine would provoke the Kremlin to attack even more aggressively.
Mr. Kuleba is a career diplomat who joined Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry after graduating from Taras Shevchenko University in the capital, Kyiv, where he studied international law, according to his official biography. Along with postings to the European Council and a stint as ambassador at large, focusing on online diplomacy, he also briefly headed Ukraine’s foundation for cultural diplomacy.
He was 38 when he was named foreign minister in 2020. Mr. Kuleba was the first Ukrainian foreign minister to visit Africa, and he traveled to China in July.
In 2021, as Russia began moving troops toward its border with Ukraine, officials in Kyiv began sounding alarms about a possible invasion and Mr. Kuleba sought to shore up support in advance of a possible war. That year he visited Washington at least twice, meeting with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken as he worked to repair Ukraine’s relationship after what he described as “a difficult time” for bilateral ties under former President Donald J. Trump, who had been reluctant to take action against Russia.
On Tuesday night, before his resignation offer became public, Mr. Kuleba sat down with CNN for an interview in which his message remained consistent. On Wednesday morning, after the latest deadly attacks by Russia, he said on social media: “I urge all capitals, ministers, international organizations, and others to strongly condemn Russia’s war crime against civilians.”
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