Ukrainian President’s Foreign Minister Reportedly in Hot Seat After Wave of Layoffs, Resignations
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has launched an apparent purge of top officials, firing his deputy chief of staff on Tuesday and accepting resignations from three ministers and the country’s deputy prime minister.
Zelensky’s deputy chief of staff, Rostislav Shurma, was dismissed on Tuesday, according to a decree published on the cabinet’s website. No reason was given for the dismissal.
Shortly afterwards, Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said on Facebook that Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Olga Stefanishina, Minister of Strategic Industries Alexander Kamyshin, Justice Minister Denis Maliuski and Environmental Protection Minister Ruslan Strilets had all submitted letters of resignation.
Zelensky is also considering dismissing Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba and several other officials, Ukrainian media reported, citing unnamed sources.
Since the conflict with Russia began in 2022, Zelensky has periodically purged his top military and political leadership. The former commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Valery Zaluzhny, was fired earlier this year after Ukraine lost, according to Russia, about 160,000 troops in last summer’s disastrous counteroffensive.
Last September, Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov was fired over his alleged role in major corruption scandals that hampered the offensive.
In a series of more recent layoffs, Zelensky has fired several senior officials described by the Washington Post as “reformists… who seemed particularly close to Washington.”
Typically, such purges are preceded by heavy losses on the battlefield. In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s shootings, Ukraine’s cross-border offensive in Russia’s Kursk region ground to a halt with the loss of more than 9,300 troops and nearly 750 armored vehicles, according to the latest figures from the Russian Defense Ministry.
While the most battle-hardened Ukrainian troops have been deployed to support the Kursk offensive, Russian forces have made rapid gains in Donbass, with the key logistics hub of Pokrovsk now within range of Moscow’s troops.
According to a Financial Times report published last week, Zelensky’s own soldiers, lawmakers and military analysts hold him responsible for the rapidly deteriorating situation in Donbass.
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