Ukraine: Foreign Minister Kuleba, 5 more ministers step down

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and five others have stepped down from their positions ahead of an anticipated major government reshuffle.As per reports, those who handed in their resignations included Strategic Industries Minister Alexander Kamyshin, Justice Minister Denys Maliuska, Environmental Protection Minister Ruslan Strilets, Deputy Prime Ministers Olha Stefanishyna and Iryna Vereshchuk, and the head of Ukraine’s State Property Fund Vitaliy Koval. Kuleba has been a prominent fixture in Zelensky’s administration and one of the most public-facing, especially dealing with overseas officials. He was seen as a capable politician and a safe pair of hands, one of the strongest members of Zelensky’s cabinet. His offer to resign comes ahead of an expected visit by the president to the United States this month.
One of the President’s most senior aides, Rostyslav Shurma, was also dismissed as per a presidential decree. The changes come as the parliamentary leader of the ruling Servant of the People party said half of the Cabinet would be changed in a major government reshuffle this week.The switch-up comes as Ukraine continues to deal with the daily Russian bombardment of its cities, and is struggling to hold back Moscow’s gains in the east while also ploughing resources into its incursion in Russia’s Kursk region.
The last major change Zelensky made to the top echelon of Ukraine’s leadership came in February, when he replaced the former Commander in Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi with Oleksander Syrskyi.Davyd Arakhamia, the majority leader of Ukraine’s parliament, said Tuesday that there would be major changes expected in the cabinet this week.