Government dismisses deputy ministers of Veteran Affairs

Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers dismissed Svitlana Kashenets and Tetyana Tokarchuk from their positions as deputy ministers of veteran affairs, Taras Melnychuk, the government's representative in parliament said on Feb. 13.

The decision follows the resignation of the former Veterans Affairs Minister, Yuliia Laputina, earlier this month.

The day before, President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was planning a large-scale reset of Ukraine’s leadership.

Oleksandr Porkhun, a war veteran and Hero of Ukraine, was later appointed acting minister on Feb. 9.

The Ministry of Veterans Affairs was created in 2018, four years after Russia first invaded Ukraine and illegally annexed Crimea, to implement state policy on the social protection of war veterans.

Since the beginning of the year, President Zelensky has said that Ukraine needs "fresh energy" in its leadership.

With the dismissal of Tokarchuk and Kashenets, government also announced several new senior government appointments today. Mykhailo Latynskyi will become the Deputy Minister for the Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories for European Integration and Liliya Kravchuk will serve as deputy head of Ukraine's State Service for Children.

The Veterans Affairs Ministry was created in 2018, four years after Russia first invaded Donbas and illegally annexed Crimea, to implement state policy on social protections for war veterans.

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The Kyiv IndependentDinara Khalilova