43-year-old Kuleba has submitted his resignation on a handwritten paper dated Wednesday, which the Ukrainian parliament's speaker Ruslan Stefantjuk has published on social media.
The Foreign Minister follows a number of ministers who on Tuesday announced that they are leaving Ukraine's government, including the Justice Minister and the Environment Minister.
Dmytro Kuleba has, alongside Volodymyr Zelensky, handled diplomacy to gather allies behind Ukraine's defense against the Russian major invasion. But the Foreign Minister has been increasingly sidelined for some time.
In this situation, Ukraine needs "new energy, also in diplomacy", according to the President.
"The Kingmaker" Decides
The reshuffle of the government was expected. And it's not surprising that Dmytro Kuleba is being dismissed, according to Ryhor Nizhnikau, senior researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA).
It's simply because he has a bad relationship with Andrij Jermak, says Nizhnikau to TT.
Andrij Jermak is Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff and has long been the President's closest man. During the war years, he has gained more and more influence and power as Zelensky's representative, gatekeeper, and kingmaker.
He is, in short, the second most powerful person in Ukraine, says Ryhor Nizhnikau, who adds that Jermak has also acted as a de facto Foreign Minister.
He organizes all major diplomatic activities and wants to be the face of major diplomatic news. The peace conference (in Switzerland in June) has been Ukraine's largest foreign policy initiative during the war, and Jermak has been its face.
Loyalty First
The reshuffle is not based on war efforts or, as in previous cases, corruption suspicions, Ryhor Nizhnikau assesses.
Career diplomat Dmytro Kuleba is the last prominent minister who was part of Zelensky's very first government – "one of the last who are not personally loyal to Andrij Jermak" – and the FIIA researcher sees it as that loyalty is now being placed highest.
Competent people, who are highly respected even in the West, are being fired without apparent reasons, says Nizhnikau, who sees risks that it will affect Ukraine's war-fighting ability and relations with allied countries.
Ukrainian media highlight Vice Foreign Minister Andrij Sybiha as a likely successor to Kuleba.
Born in Sumy, east of Kiev, in the former Soviet Union in 1981. Son of career diplomat Ivan Kuleba, who is now Ukraine's ambassador to Armenia.
Studied law in Kiev and began working at the Foreign Ministry at the age of 22. Became Vice Prime Minister in 2019 and was appointed Foreign Minister in 2020.
Dmytro Kuleba is married and has two children.
