Ukrainian lawmakers were getting ready to vote on another government this week after the president dismissed his prime minister in a move he said would bring fresh thinking, but critics warned could stoke disorder at a key point in the war.
In a shock announcement, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday he would replace Yulia Svyrydenko after she had only served a year in office, prompting speculation over who would get the top job at a time when Kyiv is facing intensified attacks.
Lawmakers said on social media that likely contenders to replace Svyrydenko include Serhiy Koretskyi, head of state oil and gas firm Naftogaz; Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal, who was previously defence minister for six months; and current Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.
CRISIS MANAGERS SEEN AS CANDIDATES
Zelenskyy posted images of meetings with each after announcing Svyrydenko’s dismissal.
Under the Ukrainian system, he will propose a prime minister who selects most other cabinet members. All must be approved by parliament.
The president said on Sunday he was seeking ‘renewal’ at the top of government and law enforcement agencies to strengthen Kyiv’s quest for more air defences from allies, bolster its bid for EU membership, and prepare for Russian attacks on the power grid this winter.
Appointing Naftogaz chief Koretskyi — seen by many as the top candidate — would place a respected technocrat atop a government that will be increasingly focused on shoring up energy security after Russian strikes on infrastructure that regularly plunge towns and cities into cold and darkness.
Kyiv-based political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said other similarly experienced crisis managers could get cabinet posts in the reshuffle, such as Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov, whose city is frequently hit by Russian attacks.
Defence Minister Fedorov was another strong candidate, already at the heart of Ukraine’s war effort.
But Fesenko, from the Penta Centre think tank, said that taking away Fedorov’s defence portfolio could hurt critical army reforms when Kyiv is fighting for the upper hand in its war with Moscow — a concern echoed by some opposition lawmakers.
Ukraine is waging a long-range strike campaign that is hurting Moscow’s oil sector and its battlefield logistics.
Fedorov, who has overseen the military’s technological evolution since his appointment in January, has also pledged to overhaul recruitment to address Ukraine’s manpower shortage.
Opposition lawmaker Inna Sovsun of the Holos party said she was “very frightened” at the potential of fresh instability in the defence ministry.
“Previously, Denys Shmyhal was the minister for half a year, he promised something, started to fulfill it and was fired,” she said on Facebook. “If the same story repeats itself with Mykhailo Fedorov, it will not be funny at all.”
LATEST IN SERIES OF WARTIME OVERHAULS
The parliamentary procedure to set up the government could start as soon as Tuesday.
Sunday’s announcement followed a string of wartime reshuffles — the last one late last year when Zelenskyy replaced long-serving chief of staff Andriy Yermak with a popular spy chief, after Yermak was tied to a major corruption probe.
The so-called ‘Midas’ investigation, which is still ongoing, has ensnared a raft of senior officials and kept up pressure on Zelenskyy’s administration.
Public trust in Zelenskyy has remained relatively stable over the past year at around 60 per cent, according to the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.
Reshuffles are one of the few political instruments to overhaul the leadership which Zelenskyy can wield at a time when elections are banned under martial law.
Opposition lawmaker Dmytro Razumkov, a former parliamentary speaker under Zelenskyy, told Reuters the president’s “Sunday blitzkrieg” is unlikely to lead to positive changes.
He echoed a popular criticism of Zelenskyy’s administration: that it relies on a small circle of loyalists.
“This … will most likely be a replacement of the same faces and simply a movement of beds around the house.”