According to Reuters, Ukrainian Prime Minister Svirykin resigned on July 14. This was part of a cabinet reshuffle ordered by President Zelensky. However, Zelensky gave little explanation for this reshuffle.
According to Reuters, Zelenskyy has not appointed a successor yet, only stating that Kiev is 'changing its political strategy' to cope with 'new challenges and tasks'.
At the plenary meeting of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) on the 14th, Resolution No. 15407 regarding the approval of Viktor Syvryiko's resignation was supported by 258 members and passed.
Until a new prime minister is appointed and a new government is formed, First Deputy Prime Minister Shmegal will act as the prime minister.
Sviridchenko has been the Prime Minister since July 2025. A major corruption case involving high-ranking Ukrainian officials attracted public attention at that time. After taking office, critics accused her of not taking decisive actions to clean up the government.
Ukraine's opposition party, Holos, member Yaroslav Reznichev mocked, 'We promised to present results every day. The government has kept that promise: there are presentations every day, news conferences every day, and every day there is a new suspect in corruption cases.'
Sviridchenko was previously considered to have a good relationship with US officials. After the conflict between Zelensky and US President Trump at the White House, she negotiated an investment agreement for minerals with the Washington side.
Last weekend, Zelenskyy announced this reorganization, saying that he planned to assign different people to various areas of foreign policy. He also mentioned that he had appointed Sviriginko to a new position responsible for key partnerships, but did not provide any detailed information.
Previously, a source revealed that Zelenskyy is considering appointing Sergii Koretskyi, the CEO of the state-owned energy company Naftogaz, or former Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, who is currently the Ukrainian Energy Minister, to replace Sviridchenko.
Zelenskyy met with Kolyezky over the weekend and praised him for demonstrating effective leadership in an extremely complex field.
Energy is of utmost importance for Ukraine. The Ukrainian power grid has suffered multiple attacks from Russia, resulting in widespread power outages throughout the winter.
