By Ukraine’s wartime Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba tendered his resignation, Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said Wednesday, amid the country’s broadest cabinet reshuffle since the start of the war with Russia.
“The application will be considered at one of the nearest plenary sessions meetings,” the Parliament speaker added in a Google-translated post on the Facebook social media platform.
Kuleba, 43, took on the post of Ukraine’s minister of foreign affairs in March 2020 and has been a stalwart figure at the forefront of Kyiv’s concerted campaign to curry international favor in its efforts to fight back Ukraine’s ongoing invasion at the hands of neighboring Russia since February 2022. He was previously appointed as permanent representative of Ukraine to the Council of Europe over 2016-2019.
CNBC has reached out to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.
Kuleba’s potential resignation follows similar steps to stand down on Tuesday from a swathe of Ukrainian ministers reported by state news agency Ukrinform, including Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk, the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olga Stefanishyna, Minister for Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshin and Minister of Justice Denys Maliuska.
The Ukrainian parliament began voting on the government shake-up on Wednesday and has so far not endorsed the dismissal of Vitaliy Koval from the post of chairman of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, according to a Google-translated Telegram update from Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a member of parliament from the Holos party.
David Arakhamia, head of the Servant of the People faction in Parliament, had foreshadowed a wide-spread and “major reboot of the government” this week.
“More than 50% of the staff of the [Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine] will undergo changes,” he said Tuesday in a Google-translated post on Telegram. “Tomorrow is the day of layoffs, and the day after tomorrow is the day of appointments.”
Kuleba has yet to publicly address his resignation, but on Wednesday issued a statement calling for the international condemnation of Russia after an overnight attack in Lviv that, according to a Google-translated Telegram post from local Mayor Andriy Sadovy, killed seven people and wounded another 64.
“I urge all capitals, ministers, international organizations, and others to strongly condemn Russia’s war crime against civilians. We need your statements and actions right now,” Kuleba said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signaled the tide was also set to change in Ukraine’s highest political echelons in his nightly address of Tuesday.
“Autumn will be extremely important for Ukraine. And our state institutions must be set up in such a way that Ukraine will achieve all the results we need — for all of us. To do this, we need to strengthen some areas in the Government — and personnel decisions have been prepared, ” he said, adding that the anticipated changes in office will lead to “certain areas” of Kyiv’s foreign and domestic policies gaining a “slightly different emphasis.”
“We need a new level of simultaneous information work, cultural and diplomatic. And a new level of relations with the global Ukrainian community. Now is the time to give new strength to Ukraine’s Governmental institutions, and I am grateful to everyone who will help,” he said.
Zelenskyy did not disclose any of the names slated for dismissal or appointment at the time.
Mirroring its battlefield efforts, Ukraine has been fighting a diplomatic war on multiple fronts, balancing a tenuous courtship of international financial and military backing, along with attempts to clean up its domestic record on corruption and pursue accession to the European Union.
The potential change at the helm of Ukraine’s foreign affairs comes a mere two months ahead of the election of new leadership in key ally Washington. The U.S. administration of Joe Biden — including Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris — has so far staunchly backed Ukraine throughout its battle against Russia, but the long-term support of former President and Republican candidate Donald Trump, who has previously pledged to end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours, remains to be seen.
