At least seven have resigned from the Ukrainian government in a few hours, even as the war intensifies after Ukraine’s counterattack on Russian soil and Moscow’s relentless response with strikes on major cities with many dead.
The greatest transformation in the midst of war
However, this is the biggest transformation of the last two and a half years of war.
Within a few hours, four Ukrainian ministers (Justice, Environment, Foreign Affairs, Strategic Defense Industries), Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanyshina, the head of the State Property Fund Vitaly Koval and Zelensky’s close associate in the office of the Ukrainian presidency Rostislav Shurma left the the governance of the country. It was preceded by the allegedly “politically motivated” dismissal of Volodymyr Kudrytsky as head of the state-owned electricity company Ukrenergo.
According to reports, other resignations may even follow, even of half the cabinet.
Zelensky referred to the changes saying that Ukraine needs “new energy” in order to “achieve the results it needs”. According to the Ukrainian president, the replacements are aimed at further strengthening the Ukrainian state on a number of fronts and sectors.
Ukrainian parliamentarians argue for their part that since elections are no longer held in Ukraine due to war and martial law, “government reshuffle is the best way to integrate new people and ideas into the government”, with the footnote, however, that both , both people and ideas, are “absolutely necessary” at the moment, as Ukrainian politician and academic Inna Sobsun told the BBC.
Who preceded
These are not the first resignations or dismissals of ministers recorded in the midst of war in Ukraine. In recent months, others have resigned or been dismissed: Oleksii Reznikov from the leadership of the Ministry of Defense last year (in the shadow of corruption scandals), Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov last May, and the head of the agency for the rehabilitation and development of infrastructure Mustafa Nayem last June, some of them (like Nayem) complaining about “systemic obstacles that did not allow them to carry out their duties unhindered”.
Last February Oleksandr Shirsky, a veteran of the war in eastern Ukraine, took over by Zelensky’s own decision the leadership of the Ukrainian armed forces in the place of Valery Zaluzny. As stated, the goal was to get out of the quagmire that the Ukrainian armed forces seemed to have fallen into after the failure of the 2023 counteroffensive in the east.
Some eight months later, the stalemate remains, despite the Ukrainian ground invasion of Kursk, Russia, the release of military aid by the US Congress, bilateral Ukraine-NATO agreements and the arrival in Ukraine of the first F-16s (one of which crashed but last week).
Despite the above, the Russian hammering continues unabated, targeting Ukrainian cities not only in the east but also in the west, while Russian forces are gaining ground inside Ukraine (near Pokrovsk) and Putin is “playing delays” in Kursk considering that it can “absorb” this internal but also regional blow not only communicatively but also practically.
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