Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced a major cabinet reshuffle in his bid to inject “new energy” into the government as the country’s war against Russia enters a critical phase.
On Wednesday, September 4, the Chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, posted the resignation of Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba and five other officials on his Facebook page.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister to European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Olha Stefanishyna, also resigned while the president dismissed his deputy chief of staff.
The former deputy foreign minister Andrii Sybiha, a veteran diplomat, has now been given the foreign ministry portfolio, while Kuleba is likely to lead Ukraine’s integration into NATO. Since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, Kuleba has successfully negotiated many agreements with the West, including helping Ukraine obtain permission to use US weapons against Russia.
These resignations mean that more than half of Zelenskyy’s cabinet, leading the country during the war against Russia, has resigned.
Recently, Zelenskyy announced that the country’s public institutions should be designed to achieve desired results efficiently. He added that Ukraine must “strengthen some areas in the government” by implementing notable changes across different offices.
The mass resignations of top officials came at a time when Ukraine was desperately seeking the Pentagon’s approval to use long-range American ballistic missiles to hit Russian targets. Ukraine has recently announced to successfully test its ballistic missiles, although the country has kept it as a secret weapon, which means that its range remains unknown.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is visiting Germany to meet Ukraine’s top officials, where he could discuss long-range ballistic missile restrictions and announce more military aid to Ukraine.
According to Pentagon Press Secretary Patrick S. Ryder, the US is trying to assess Ukraine’s needs in the war better, and US policy regarding long-range ballistic missiles remains unchanged.
Ukraine’s insistence on obtaining these permissions stems from rising Russian missile attacks on Ukraine in recent days. While Ukrainian missile defense systems have intercepted many of these missiles, those that have struck the country have unleashed horrors. Russian latest bombings on Ukraine include strikes on the Poltava Military Communications Institute as well as a nearby hospital, resulting in 51 deaths and 217 injuries.
Similarly, Russia has launched a barrage of missiles on other parts of Ukraine in recent weeks that have rocked the capital city of Kyiv and the western city of Lviv, which is located alongside the Ukraine-Poland border.
Despite facing recent setbacks, Ukraine continues to control nearly 450 square miles of territory in Russia’s Kursk region, which it captured after launching a surprise invasion in early August. Zelenskyy has maintained that this control can help his country during negotiations should the two warring nations decide to engage in dialogue in the near future.
