Old guard
New Prime Minister Svyrydenko was one of the main drivers of the April 30 Ukraine-U.S. minerals deal, carefully crafting the final agreement out of the tough conditions Washington wanted to impose on Kyiv. She is also described by Andy Hunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Kyiv, as “someone they can work with.”
Her former ministry of economy was merged with the ministries of environmental protection and agriculture, and will be taken over by her former deputy, Oleksii Sobolev.
Taras Kachka, Ukraine’s trade representative and deputy economy minister, will become the new deputy prime minister on EU integration. Ukraine’s energy minister, German Galushchenko — accused of a power grab in the state energy sector — will become the new justice minister, a key institution for Ukraine’s EU integration process. Galushchenko’s former deputy and ex-minister of environment, Svitlana Hrynchuk, will take over the energy ministry.
Denys Uliutin, former deputy finance minister, is now the head of another merged ministry — the Ministry of Social Policy, Family and Unity. The Ministry of National Unity, Zelenskyy’s pet project that aimed to help Ukrainians return home, will be liquidated after only six months of work.
Rustem Umerov, the former defense minister — described by Zelenskyy as an extremely effective manager and negotiator, but criticized by civil society for inaction and his alleged sabotage of key supplies to the army — will most likely be transferred to the national security council, according to Ukrainian media and scuttlebutt in Kyiv. His new role will be announced Friday.
Mykola Tochitsky, formerly of the president’s office, lost the post of minister of culture and informational policy and is also getting a foreign diplomatic post.