Ukraine’s PM Shmyhal resigns as part of major government reshuffle

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal is seen in this Oct. 25, 2022, photo. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Tuesday he had submitted a resignation letter, as part of the country’s largest wartime governmental reshuffle expected this week.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday nominated First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko to replace Shmyhal. Svyrydenko, who is also the economy minister, is a close and long-standing ally of Zelenskyy.

Shmyhal, who has been in his post since March 2020, is expected to be appointed as Ukraine’s new defence minister, Zelenskyy said on Monday.

Parliament is due to vote on Svyrydenko’s nomination later this week. Zelenskyy said that he had already discussed priority tasks for the next six months with her.

“We are preparing the initial steps of the renewed government,” he said on the Telegram app, posting a picture from their meeting in his office.

The key tasks would be to increase domestic weapons production and implement reforms to unlock Ukraine’s economic potential, he said.

The shakeup, the biggest since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, comes as the Russian forces continue their grinding advance in Ukraine’s east, and prospects for any fast ceasefire deal look dim.

Ukraine’s economy is still smaller than before the war, despite local businesses adapting to the wartime reality and billions in foreign aid from Kyiv’s Western allies to help maintain macroeconomic stability.

Next year the country is facing a tough task of financing its ballooning budget deficit as foreign aid is set to diminish. Ukrainian officials have said the country would need about US$40 billion in external financing in 2026.

Parliament is due to vote on the new government nominations on Thursday, lawmakers said.

(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa, Olena Harmash)