During a meeting of the ruling Servant of the People faction on 16 July, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy introduced the members of the new Cabinet of Ministers (Ukrainian government) to MPs from the faction.
Zelenskyy spent about 30 minutes at the meeting, thanking former prime minister Denys Shmyhal for his work and welcoming new prime minister Yuliia Svyrydenko and the incoming ministers.
The position of first deputy prime minister in the new government will be taken up by Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister for Innovation and Minister of Digital Transformation.
Denys Shmyhal is to become minister of defence.
The Ministries of Economy, Ecology and Agriculture will be merged into a single office headed by Oleksii Sobolev, currently Svyrydenko’s first deputy at the Economy Ministry.
Taras Kachka, another of Svyrydenko’s deputies, will replace Olha Stefanishyna as deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration. During the faction meeting, Zelenskyy made no mention of Stefanishyna’s rumoured appointment as Ukraine’s ambassador to the EU or the US.
The Ministry of Social Policy is set to be renamed the Ministry of Social Policy, Family and Unity. It will be headed by Denys Uliutin, currently first deputy finance minister.
The Ministry of Energy will be led by current ecology minister Svitlana Hrynchuk, replacing Herman Halushchenko, who is to become minister of justice.
Following the dismissal of Mykola Tochytskyi, the Ministry of Culture will temporarily remain without a head, as the selection process is ongoing. The ministry’s strategic communications and information policy functions are expected to be handed over to one of the agencies reporting directly to Svyrydenko.
Several ministers will retain their posts: Deputy PM for Reconstruction and Minister for Communities and Territorial Development Oleksii Kuleba, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko, Veterans’ Affairs Minister Nataliia Kalmykova, Health Minister Viktor Liashko, Youth and Sports Minister Matvii Bidnyi and Education and Science Minister Oksen Lisovyi.
Parliament is expected to vote on the appointments of the new government members at a session on 17 July.
