Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has offered his resignation, joining several other senior figures in the Kyiv government who have already done so as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky prepares for the biggest shake-up since the start of the war, independent news outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported on Wednesday.
While Kuleba gave no reason for his resignation in his letter to the Ukrainian parliament, Ukrainska Pravda speculated on Tuesday that he was about to be dismissed, and that he would likely be replaced by First Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha.
The news comes a day after Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna, Strategic Industries Minister Oleksandr Kamyshin, Justice Minister Denys Maliuska, and Environment Minister Ruslan Striletsand all handed in their resignations.
On Tuesday Zelensky dismissed the head of state-owned electricity operator Ukrenergo over his apparent failure to adequately protect the country’s national grid from a spate of recent Russian attacks.
Answering questions on the war in an interview with NBC News on Tuesday, Zelensky indicated that Ukraine planned to hold on to the territory it has occupied in Russia’s Kursk region as part of a recent incursion in order to force Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.
“We don’t need their land. We don’t want to bring our Ukrainian way of life there,” Zelensky said, adding that the occupation of Russian territory was part of a “victory plan”, and that Kyiv had no intention of annexing the occupied territories.
Kuleba’s resignation letter. Photo: Ruslan Stefanchuk
