Ukrainian parliament approves appointment of eight ministers
Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, approved the appointment of eight more ministers amid a major government reshuffle on Sept. 5.
The new personnel changes follow the resignation of Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and the appointment of his successor, Kuleba's deputy Andrii Sybiha.
Olha Stefanishyna was re-appointed as the deputy prime minister responsible for European integration and was also appointed justice minister.
Svitlana Hrynchuk was approved as ecology minister, replacing Ruslan Strilets.
Matviy Bidnyi, who has been acting sports and youth minister, was officially appointed to the job.
Mykola Tochytskyi, a long-serving diplomat and deputy head of the Presidential Office, was appointed as culture and information policy minister.
"At this stage, we need to strengthen the fight against disinformation, and we need a candidate with international experience for this task," David Arakhamia, head of President Volodymyr Zelensky's Servant of the People faction in parliament, said on Sept. 4.
Deputy Defense Minister Natalia Kalmykova became minister of veterans' affairs, and Herman Smetanin, head of the state-owned defense company Ukroboronprom, replaced Alexander Kamyshin as strategic industries minister.
Vitaliy Koval, who had spent one year as head of the State Property Fund, was approved for the position of agriculture minister.
The lawmakers also approved the candidacy of Oleksii Kuleba, a former deputy head of the Presidential Office, as deputy prime minister for the restoration of Ukraine and minister for the development of communities and territories.
The parliament also approved the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk with 255 votes. She is moving to the President’s Office, where she will be deputy head of the office.
Chris York
