Yuliia Svyrydenko’s debut trip to the United States as Ukraine’s prime minister began at a showcase of American capitalism.
On a late-August morning, she joined a crowd of investors in the Nasdaq building in Times Square to celebrate the first ever American listing of a Ukrainian company, the telecom firm Kyivstar. Suspenseful music throbbed as a countdown clock ticked to zero and Ms. Svyrydenko rang the market’s opening bell.
It is rare for a prime minister to appear at the exchange, and even rarer for a company from a war-torn country to be listed on it. Ms. Svyrydenko, in a recent interview in Kyiv with The New York Times, said it showed, “Ukraine is not only about donations, but it’s about business.”
Her words appeared calculated to resonate with President Trump. He has long grumbled that the United States has not received anything in return for the tens of billions of dollars it has poured into Ukraine’s war effort, mostly under his predecessor, Joseph R. Biden Jr. With direct U.S. financial assistance now off the table, Kyiv is working to convince Mr. Trump that it is no charity case but a place where lucrative business can be done, even in wartime.
Appointed by President Volodymyr Zelensky in mid-July, Ms. Svyrydenko, 39, seems tailor-made for that task. She has spent her career working in private businesses or on economic matters for regional and national governments. As economy minister, she negotiated a high-stakes minerals deal with the Trump administration that has become the foundation for the new business-oriented relationship between Kyiv and Washington.
Her appointment “was a message from Ukraine to the United States, to Trump,” said Mykola Davydiuk, a Kyiv-based political analyst.
Ms. Svyrydenko’s elevation also reflects a growing concentration of power under Mr. Zelensky, according to Kyiv-based Western diplomats and Ukrainian lawmakers. A trusted loyalist, she rose through his administration with the backing of his powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak. Mr. Zelensky, Mr. Yermak and a small circle of advisers hold tight control over power in Ukraine, analysts say, as Parliament has been largely sidelined and opposition figures have been targeted by law enforcement and security agencies.
Ivanna Klympush-Tsinsadze, a lawmaker from the main opposition party, said that with the consolidation of power in Mr. Zelensky’s office, Ms. Svyrydenko would have little room to maneuver and would be “taking orders from him and his closest team.”
Diplomats and lawmakers express worry that Ms. Svyrydenko’s loyalty could keep her from standing up to Mr. Zelensky if he takes more steps that challenge Ukraine’s democracy, like his attempt this summer to defang the country’s anti-corruption agencies.
Ms. Svyrydenko was in her first week as prime minister when Mr. Zelensky moved to curb the agencies, prompting thousands to take to the streets in Ukraine’s first large demonstrations during three and a half years of war. She rushed to reassure European allies, whom Ukraine now relies on for much of its financial support, that Kyiv remained committed to fighting corruption.
“It was not an easy moment, and I was not expecting to face that kind of problem,” Ms. Svyrydenko said, noting with a smile that she had never enjoyed the usual “honeymoon” for a new prime minister.
Ms. Svyrydenko cuts an unlikely figure in Ukraine’s wartime politics, a world of men who often dress in military-style jackets and keep stern faces. She smiles easily, her humor slipping through a serious exterior. During the interview, she joked about testing her bodyguards’ nerves by climbing onto the roof of a 10-story government building to inspect damage from a recent Russian missile strike.
She is one of Ukraine’s youngest prime ministers and only the second woman to hold the post. Over the past decade, she has risen steadily from official posts in her native region of Chernihiv, in northern Ukraine, to top national economic positions, including economic adviser to Mr. Yermak and, starting in 2021, economy minister.
Denys Maliuska, Mr. Zelensky’s justice minister until last year, described her as hardworking and willing “to take on difficult tasks.” At government meetings, she is often seen cramming her writing pad with notes, Mr. Maliuska said. Volodymyr Fesenko, a Kyiv-based political analyst, said she had the reputation of a “straight-A student.”
As economy minister, Ms. Svyrydenko worked to stabilize the finances of a nation sent into free fall by the Russian invasion, opening trade routes to circumvent Moscow’s efforts to block the Black Sea and securing billions in foreign aid. Growth has returned, albeit modestly.
Perhaps her biggest test came this year when Ukraine negotiated a deal to open its mineral riches to the United States, hoping to win Mr. Trump’s favor by appealing to his mercantile instincts.
Ms. Svyrydenko led the talks for Ukraine as they quickly grew tense. Washington made demands that felt to Ukrainian officials like outright extortion, such as granting the United States half of their country’s mineral rights.
In late February, during a video call, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent shouted at Ms. Svyrydenko that she had six minutes to accept a deal or the talks were over, according to one current Ukrainian official and one former official who were on the call and who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a sensitive exchange. Ms. Svyrydenko denied the conversation was tense. A spokesman for Mr. Bessent did not respond to requests for comment.
Ms. Svyrydenko eventually secured better terms and signed the deal, forging what she called a trust-based “working relation with Secretary Bessent.”
Matthew Murray, chairman of the advisory board of Velta, a Ukrainian titanium company, said that Ms. Svyrydenko had “clearly become a very effective communicator with the Trump administration.”
She said that the minerals deal, which gives the United States preferential access to Ukraine’s mineral resources through a joint investment fund, had helped build “steady relations” with Washington. She cited a recent U.S. government announcement that it would invest $75 million in Ukrainian minerals.
Mr. Fesenko, the analyst, said her success in brokering the deal was probably “the decisive factor in Zelensky’s decision to appoint her as prime minister.”
When Ms. Svyrydenko assumed her post, Mr. Zelensky gave her three priorities: bolster the economy, expand social programs and ramp up weapon production.
All of those efforts are largely reliant on funding from European allies. But Mr. Zelensky’s move to cripple the anti-corruption agencies left Ms. Svyrydenko scrambling.
At a July 23 meeting in Kyiv with diplomats from the Group of 7, Ms. Svyrydenko tried to ease tensions with a joke. Had she known the storm awaiting her, she would have remained as economy minister, she told them, according to several diplomats present. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a closed-door meeting.
The move against the agencies was the country’s biggest political crisis of the war, a time when elections have been suspended and rivalries largely bottled up in the name of national unity. In her interview with The Times, Ms. Svyrydenko distanced herself from the episode.
She said she had not pushed the law weakening the agencies, which was reversed after the protests. She has tried to shore up her corruption-fighting credentials by acceding to long-delayed Western demands, including appointing the head of an agency combating economic crimes such as tax evasion and smuggling.
“I don’t think that trust was broken” with the West, Ms. Svyrydenko said, “but it was a little bit dented.”
Ms. Svyrydenko must rebuild that trust to unlock European aid that Kyiv needs to avert a looming budget crisis, with some $20 billion still required to cover next year’s expenses.
Ms. Klympush-Tsinsadze, the opposition lawmaker, noted that one of Ms. Svyrydenko’s first acts as prime minister was implementing Mr. Zelensky’s push to expand government aid for Ukrainians. She called that move a populist gesture at odds with the budget crunch.
Ms. Svyrydenko dismissed the criticism, noting that a decade of work in public affairs had made her “the most experienced” prime minister. One of her current priorities is securing Western funding to enhance Ukrainian air defenses, which have been stretched thin by relentless Russian attacks.
The government building where she works is a reminder of the stakes. Last month, a Russian ballistic missile struck the upper floors just above her office. The missile did not explode, for reasons that remain unclear, leaving a gaping hole and a lingering, acrid smell of smoke.
Had it exploded, the building could have collapsed, Ms. Svyrydenko said as she inspected the site of the strike, where some debris remained. “We were lucky,” she said.
Olha Konovalova contributed reporting.
Constant Méheut reports on the war in Ukraine, including battlefield developments, attacks on civilian centers and how the war is affecting its people.
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