Ukraine’s foreign minister resigns ahead of expected government shuffle

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, one of Ukraine’s most recognizable faces on the international stage, submitted his resignation Wednesday ahead of an expected major government reshuffle. Russian strikes, meanwhile, killed seven people in a western Ukraine city, a day after one of the deadliest missile attacks since the war began.

Kuleba, 43, didn’t give a reason for stepping down. His resignation will be discussed by lawmakers at their next session, parliamentary Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said on his Facebook page. Four other Cabinet ministers tendered their resignations late Tuesday, making the Cabinet reshuffle likely the biggest since Russia’s February 2022 invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated last week that a reshuffle was imminent, with the war poised to enter a critical stage and as its 1,000-day mark looms in November.

He said Wednesday that Ukraine needs “new energy, and that includes in diplomacy.” He said during a Kyiv news conference with visiting Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris that he couldn’t announce any replacements yet because he didn’t know whether the candidates would accept his invitation to join the government.

Zelensky needs to keep up Ukraine’s morale amid the grinding war of attrition with its bigger neighbor and steel the country’s resolve for what will be another hard winter. Russia has been smashing Ukraine’s power grid, knocking out some 70% of generation capacity and rupturing heat and water supplies. And Wednesday’s deadly attack on Lviv — a city near the border with NATO member Poland and far from the front lines — underscored how all of Ukraine is at the mercy of Moscow’s long-range capabilities.

The Ukrainian army’s risky incursion almost a month ago into Russia’s Kursk