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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday he had nominated first deputy prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko to lead his cabinet and “significantly renew its work”, in the most notable shake-up of his government since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
If approved by parliament, Svyrydenko, who also currently serves as economy minister, would replace current Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to become her country’s 19th head of government. Appointed in 2020, Shmyhal has served in the role throughout Russia’s war against Ukraine and is the longest-serving head of government in the country’s history.
Zelenskyy wrote on X that he had met Svyrydenko, 39, who led negotiations on a high-stakes minerals deal with the US, and told her a new prime minister was needed in a “transformation of the executive branch”.
“We also discussed concrete measures to boost Ukraine’s economic potential, expand support programmes for Ukrainians, and scale up our domestic weapons production,” he wrote.
Svyrydenko is considered a close ally of Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s powerful chief of staff. She is also seen as having strong ties with Donald Trump’s team after leading the minerals talks alongside US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent.
Svyrydenko’s appointment was widely expected and seen by some in Kyiv’s political arena as further consolidation of power within the president’s inner circle.
“Andriy wants someone who is 100 per cent his person,” said Mariana Bezuhla, a Ukrainian MP and member of the foreign affairs committee. “So he is promoting his protégé, his pupil — someone fully loyal to and understood by him: Yulia Svyrydenko.”
Svyrydenko would also be the second female prime minister in Ukraine’s history, after the firebrand politician and Orange revolution heroine figure Yulia Tymoshenko.
Oleksandr Merezhko, a lawmaker from Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party and head of the foreign affairs committee, said periodic reshuffles were necessary given that elections could not be held under martial law. “Not all ministers live up to the requirements and expectations during war,” he said.
Several other senior cabinet members are expected to be replaced or moved to other roles as part of the government shuffle in the coming days. Senior Ukrainian officials familiar with Zelenskyy’s planning said that Shmyhal was a leading contender for the post of defence minister, which is currently held by Rustem Umerov.
Umerov, those officials said, was likely to be appointed by the president to serve as the new ambassador to Washington, where he will be expected to strengthen ties with the Trump administration.
Zelenskyy promised President Donald Trump in a phone call this month that he would replace Ukraine’s current envoy in the US, Oksana Markarova, as part of a broad reboot of his diplomatic force.
House Speaker Mike Johnson called for Markarova’s dismissal last year after she organised a visit by Zelenskyy with Democrat politicians to an arms facility in the swing state of Pennsylvania during the 2024 US election campaign. Trump’s Republican allies saw the move as highly partisan. Though replacements were considered late last year, she stayed on during the transitional months of Trump’s second term.
Ukraine postponed both presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for last year due to the war. Zelenskyy sees reshuffling his wartime cabinet as the most effective way of breathing new life into the government, the people close to him said.
