Andrii Sybiha, a deputy head of the Presidential Office, has been named the first deputy foreign minister, replacing Mykola Tochytskyi, said Taras Melnychuk, the government's representative in the parliament, on April 12.
No reason for the swap was provided, but the news comes against the backdrop of wider personnel changes in the Presidential Office and other top bodies in Ukraine's government.
Sybiha has a long career in diplomacy, beginning his work at the Foreign Ministry in 1997. He has previously worked at the Ukrainian Embassy in Poland and served as an ambassador to Turkey between 2016 and 2021.
In May 2021, Sybiha was appointed as a deputy head of the Presidential Office.
Tochytskyi has worked at the Foreign Ministry since 1993 and held several posts abroad, including as a permanent representative to the Council of Europe and an ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg on a part-time basis.
He has served as a deputy foreign minister since September 2021. Tochytskyi should replace Sybiha at the Presidential Office, Ukrainska Pravda reported.
Two deputy heads of the Presidential Office, Andrii Smirnov and Oleksii Dniprov, were replaced on March 29. President Volodymyr Zelensky said a day later that further personnel changes are expected.
Elsa Court
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