Ukraine parliament approves Andrii Sybiha as Foreign Minister

Ukraine’s parliament approved President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s nominee to lead the Foreign Ministry as part of a series of votes pushing through a cabinet shakeup aimed at rebooting the country’s war effort.

Andrii Sybiha, a senior diplomat and former ambassador to Turkey, will succeed Dmytro Kuleba as Ukraine’s top diplomat after a vote confirmed by lawmaker Oleksiy Honcharenko on Telegram Thursday. Legislators in Kyiv were also set to approve a raft of new cabinet members in a broad overhaul that Zelenskyy said will set a “somewhat different emphasis.”

The reshuffle, the biggest since the full-scale war began in 2022, has left Ukraine’s NATO allies guessing after they were already caught off guard by last month’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. While several ministers are being shuffled to new positions, the overhaul is likely to draw scrutiny to Zelenskyy’s wartime planning.

Sybiha will lead diplomatic efforts as Moscow’s invasion reaches a crucial point with Russian missiles destroying Kyiv’s energy infrastructure ahead of winter. Ukrainian forces are struggling to hold back a Russian offensive in the east and the war-battered nation seeks air-defense weapons from allies to protect civilians.

Six Ukrainian cabinet members resigned over the last three days. Kuleba, the public face of Ukraine’s ambition to join NATO and the European Union, was the most prominent official to leave his position. He’ll likely be tasked by Zelenskyy to focus on strengthening NATO ties.

Ukraine’s top envoy to Turkey from 2016 to 2021, Sybiha went on to work in Zelenskyy’s office, including under the powerful chief-of-staff, Andriy Yermak. Yermak often overshadowed Kuleba on issues including bilateral security guarantees, relations with the U.S. and seeking support from the so-called Global South.

As he climbed the diplomatic ranks in Kyiv, Sybiha also did two stints in the embassy in Poland, one of Ukraine’s strongest backers in its war against Russia.

In total, parliament is expected to vote on nine candidates to fill vacant cabinet seats, Honcharenko said earlier. Other top ministerial positions include those of infrastructure, agriculture and regional policy chiefs, which have been vacant for months.

Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna is slated for an expanded role that adds the Justice Ministry to her portfolio. Oleksiy Kuleba, who works for the presidential administration, is set to be appointed as infrastructure minister.

The cabinet minister who oversaw weapons production, Oleksandr Kamyshin, is touted to join Zelenskyy’s office — and be replaced by Herman Smetanin, a 31-year-old who has headed state-owned arms group Ukroboronprom.