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Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko has resigned just one year after taking office at the request of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. While Zelenskyy did not explain the specific reasons for the sudden major reshuffle, Ukraine’s parliament accepted Svyrydenko’s resignation on Tuesday.
According to a report by the British news agency Reuters, the proposal to accept the 40-year-old economist’s resignation passed in parliament on Tuesday. However, some lawmakers in the country expressed dissatisfaction and unease over such an abrupt change.
In her farewell address, Svyrydenko stated, “Every day of this year demanded difficult decisions and strong actions. I am deeply grateful for the trust and support I received. As you know, I have always believed most in results.”
Svyrydenko was brought into the cabinet a year ago after a major corruption case involving top officials in the country came to light. However, critics have since accused her of failing to take sufficiently firm and effective steps to eradicate corruption or carry out a clean-up operation in the administration.
President Zelenskyy has stated that Ukraine is changing its political strategy and requires new faces for this purpose. However, he has not clarified any other reasons for the new cabinet reshuffle.
Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a lawmaker from Ukraine’s opposition Holos party, criticized and mocked the outgoing government, saying, “We were promised results every day. The government kept that promise. Every day there were only presentations, every day there were press conferences, and every day we found a new suspect in corruption cases.”
Svyrydenko’s departure has, according to constitutional provisions, ensured the resignation of the entire government. Lawmakers stated that Serhiy Koretskyi, the head of the country’s state oil and gas company Naftogaz, is leading the race to become the new prime minister.
Other potential candidates include Svyrydenko’s predecessor, Denys Shmyhal, and the current Defense Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov.
In the war with Russia, which has lasted for over four years, Ukraine has been attempting to gain a strategic advantage in recent months by carrying out long-range attacks targeting Moscow’s energy infrastructure and other facilities. The Ukrainian Prime Minister primarily oversees the country’s internal policies, maintaining economic activity, and supervising the repair of damage from Russia’s continuous attacks on civilian infrastructure.
Outgoing Prime Minister Svyrydenko stated that the biggest challenge for the incoming new government will be preparing for winter. This is because it is anticipated that the intensity of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power grids and gas lines could double during the winter.
Source: Reuters.