Zelensky dismisses one of his top aides, Rostyslav Shurma
President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Deputy Head of Ukraine's Presidential Office Rostyslav Shurma on Sept. 3.
The decision was announced on the Presidential Office’s official website.
Shurma's dismissal came ahead of a broader reshuffle after five Ukrainian ministers and the head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU) had submitted their resignations earlier in the day.
In his evening address, Zelensky said that Ukraine’s institutions "must be set up" this fall, "so that Ukraine achieves all the results we need."
"To do this, we have to strengthen some sectors in the government, and personnel decisions have been prepared. There will also be changes in the Office," the president said without elaborating on the reason for Shurma's dismissal.
Shurma was appointed deputy head of the Presidential Office in 2021 and was in charge of the economic sector.
Following an investigation by the Bihus.info journalism project published in August 2023, Shurma confirmed that his brother's company had received money from the Ukrainian government for solar plants in Russian-occupied territories as part of renewable energy subsidies during the full-scale invasion. He denied the accusations of wrongdoing.
According to the investigation, Oleh Shurma, the brother of Rostyslav Shurma, co-owns KD Energy and Renewable Energy of Zaporizhzhia. A number of such companies with power plants in occupied territories continued to receive payments under the "green tariff" scheme after Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022, reads the investigation.
