Yulia Svyrydenko stepped down on Sunday as Ukraine’s prime minister amid predictions she would become Kyiv’s ambassador to the US. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, said there would also be changes in the top ranks of law enforcement agencies.
Reuters reported that well-informed opposition lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak said Svyrydenko was likely to take up the post of ambassador to the US; while the new PM was most likely to be Serhiy Koretskyi, head of state energy company Naftogaz. Lawmakers said other possible successors included Svyrydenko’s predecessor, Denys Shmyhal, currently energy minister; or Mykhailo Fedorov, the defence minister.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine was “changing its political strategy” and he had offered Svyrydenko the opportunity to lead “a new, important area” in Ukraine’s relations with a key international partner. It comes after the Nato summit in Ankara where a thaw in relations with Donald Trump’s administration was evident, and the US president promised to give Ukraine a licence to build Patriot air defence missiles.
Over the past year, Ukraine has been shaken by its largest corruption scandal, which led to the resignation of the influential head of the presidential administration. Zelenskyy also triggered protests in 2025 when he moved to strip anti-corruption bodies of their independence. The president was forced to back down.
