Mr. Zelensky dismissed the Prime Minister of Ukraine

“I am very grateful to Ms. Yulia Svyrydenko for her clear, stable and effective work as Prime Minister of Ukraine, as well as for her years of effective service. I gave her the opportunity to lead a new field in relations with a key partner,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced today.

Ms. Svyrydenko became Prime Minister of Ukraine in July 2025, replacing her predecessor Denys Shmyhal. Mr. Zelensky did not explain the reason for the decision, nor did he announce who will take over as Prime Minister of Ukraine.

“I hope that we will together with parliamentarians make corresponding changes in the Ukrainian government. There will also be changes in the heads of executive agencies,” Mr. Zelensky said.

President Zelensky listed a number of goals that Ukraine has set, including moving towards joining the European Union (EU) and strengthening border area security. He also stated his intention to assign a series of officials to be in charge of different foreign affairs areas.

“We have determined that these changes require a cabinet reshuffle,” he announced, but did not give further details.

Cabinet reshuffles must be approved by the Ukrainian parliament, the majority of the country’s parliamentarians support President Zelensky and usually do not obstruct his agenda.

The decision was made after the EU resumed negotiations on Ukraine’s admission from the end of June. Ukraine signed an application to join the EU in February 2022, an effort that faced many challenges due to the use of veto power by the Hungarian government under former prime minister Viktor Orban.

However, the process could be delayed if Poland, an EU member state, objects amid escalating tensions between the two sides over Ukraine’s use of symbols associated with the Ukrainian Resistance Army (UPA), a World War II-era nationalist rebel group.

The conflict broke out after President Zelensky changed the name of a Ukrainian military unit to “UPA Heroes”. This decision faced a fierce reaction from Poland, because the UPA was accused of participating in the Volhynia massacres that killed about 100,000 Poles in the period 1943-1945.