Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba submitted his letter of resignation, speaker of Ukraine's parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk reported on Sept. 4.
Stefanchuk said that Kuleba's potential resignation will be "considered at one of the upcoming plenary meetings" but did not provide a date.
"It is a big reshuffle. It was expected rather long ago," lawmaker Oleksandr Merezhko told the Kyiv Independent.
"Ahead of us difficult times, difficult autumn and winter. Perhaps this reshuffle is somehow related to the new period of challenges for Ukraine."
Serving as foreign minister since 2020, Kuleba has been at the forefront of Ukraine's efforts to engage its international allies and secure new partnerships since the beginning of the full-scale war.
Following earlier rumors of his dismissal in August 2023, Kuleba said on national television that he was not concerned about the possibility.
"I work, no job is permanent, and I’m totally calm about everything," he said at the time. "I said at the very beginning that I would leave under two circumstances: the first is if the president asks me to do it. The second is if I get into some fundamental contradiction with foreign policy and don’t consider it possible to work with it," Kuleba added.
"I work, no job is permanent, and I’m totally calm about everything."
Ukrainska Pravda reported on Sept. 3, citing unnamed sources, that Kuleba would be dismissed, and that his replacement was still being considered. The most likely candidate to take the position would be Deputy Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, the sources said.
The news follows a number of other high-profile ministers submitting their letters of resignation the previous day — Strategic Industries Minister Alexander Kamyshin, Justice Minister Denys Maliuska, Ecology Minister Ruslan Strilets, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna, and Deputy Prime Minister and Reintegration Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
Vitalii Koval, head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU), also submitted his resignation nine months after being in office.
The reasons for the resignations were not specified. The news came after months of reports about the possible replacement of several Ukrainian ministers.
David Arakhamia, the head of President Volodymyr Zelensky's Servant of the People's party in parliament, said on Sept. 3 that the reshuffle would affect more than half of the government's staff.
"Tomorrow is the day of dismissals, and the day after that is the day of appointments," he added.
Zelensky said in March that Ukrainians can expect more government reshuffles in the future, following a shake-up of his inner circle.
Infrastructure Minister and Deputy Prime Minister for Reconstruction Oleksandr Kubrakov and Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi were then dismissed in May.
Andrea Januta
