New Faces Join Ukraine's Government

Outgoing Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko led the government in Kyiv from 17 July 2025 until 16 July this year. One of her predecessors, two-time Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, went down in history amid bribery scandals and after signing a gas deal with the Kremlin that was considered disadvantageous to Ukraine.

At the time of her appointment, the public already viewed Svyrydenko as being close to Andriy Yermak, the now-former influential head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, who has been demonstrably linked to bribery on an unprecedented scale.

A Manager at the Helm

On 16 July, the Ukrainian parliament approved Serhiy Koretsky, a prominent energy-sector manager, as the new prime minister. He is the country’s third prime minister since the start of Russia’s invasion. Denys Shmyhal held the post in 2022 but was replaced last year by Svyrydenko.

Before the vote, Koretsky addressed members of the Verkhovna Rada and identified the defense of Ukraine, economic stability and continued European integration as his main priorities. Koretsky, who previously headed the state-owned oil and gas company Naftogaz, will be succeeded there by its current commercial director, Serhiy Fedorenko.

The new 48-year-old prime minister is a trained engineer and economist. He has not previously served in government and is not affiliated with any political party. According to analysts, his political independence could be a significant advantage.

Volodymyr Fesenko, director of the Penta Analytical Center, believes Koretsky’s reputation as a capable manager, combined with his political neutrality, gives him a distinct advantage. Koretsky comes from the western Ukrainian city of Lutsk. In addition to his long career in the energy sector, he founded a successful chain of coffee shops.

After Ukraine endured the most intense Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure since the start of the war last winter, one of the new prime minister’s main tasks will be to prepare the country for the coming heating season.

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Sixteen Ministers on 16 July

On 16 July, the Ukrainian parliament approved the appointment of 16 ministerial candidates by 289 votes. The Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agricultural Policy was divided into the Ministry of Economy, headed by Oleksandr Kravchenko, and the Ministry of Agricultural Policy, headed by Taras Vysotsky.

Kravchenko has long worked as an economist and senior manager in international consultancy at government level. Vysotsky has worked in the agricultural sector at national level since 2021 and has also served as a deputy minister.

According to the Center for Eastern Studies, the Ministry of Municipal and Territorial Development was also divided into two bodies: the Ministry of Reconstruction, Infrastructure and Transport, headed by Mykola Kalashnik, and the Ministry of Municipalities, Territories and Internally Displaced Persons, headed by Vitaliy Bezhin.

Kalashnik, who holds a doctorate in economics, had served as head of the Kyiv Regional State Administration since March last year. Before taking up his ministerial post, Bezhin chaired the Subcommittee on Administrative and Territorial Organization and Local Self-Government within the parliamentary Committee on the Organization of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development and Urban Planning.

Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and First Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal, himself a former prime minister, were among those who retained their positions.

The same applies to Youth and Sports Minister Matviy Bidny, Health Minister Viktor Lyashko, Social Policy and Family Minister Denys Ulyutin and Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy and Culture Minister Tetiana Berezhna.

A new face in the Verkhovna Rada, though not in politics, is Vsevolod Chentsov, who serves as deputy prime minister for Ukraine’s integration into NATO and the EU, effectively giving him ministerial rank. Chentsov has worked in diplomacy since 1996 and was appointed head of Ukraine’s mission to the EU and the European Atomic Energy Community in 2021.

Andriy Butenko, an associate professor of history and former dean of a law school at a university in Kyiv, was appointed education minister. Ivan Vyhivsky, who holds a doctorate in law, became interior minister. He previously served as head of the National Police in Kyiv and later as chief of the National Police of Ukraine.

Vitaliy Kim, who worked for a regional branch of Zelensky’s Servant of the People party during the 2019 elections, now heads the Ministry of Veterans’ Affairs. Denys Maslov, a lawyer specializing in criminal and commercial law, has served as justice minister since 16 July. He previously chaired parliament’s Committee on Legal Policy.

Oxana Ferchukova has been appointed digitalization minister. She has worked in the field since 2022 and was appointed deputy defense minister for digital development and digitalization on 25 July 2025.

The new government has begun work on a program that it will submit to parliament in the near future. The president said the cabinet would work pragmatically and that mistakes would result in personal accountability and immediate consequences.

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The Most Prominent Positions Remain Vacant

Ukraine currently has neither a defense minister nor a foreign minister. Yevhen Chmara, the acting head of the Security Service of Ukraine, was appointed acting defense minister on 17 July at the recommendation of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

However, under the law, he cannot become a minister until he leaves the armed forces. While Koretsky proposed the 16 ministerial candidates, the law stipulates that the president must nominate the defense and foreign ministers.

As this has not yet happened, the government is currently running the country without ministers in two of its most important posts. Zelensky may have hoped that the appointment of a new government would overshadow media coverage of the protests against the dismissal of Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov and that the cabinet’s new faces would generate a positive response. However, Fedorov’s dismissal has had a greater impact on the country than its leadership was willing to admit.