Ukraine’s parliament just handed the country’s top government job to a man who has never held a cabinet position. Serhii Koretskyi, the former CEO of state energy giant Naftogaz, was approved as prime minister on July 16 with 289 votes in favor, making him Ukraine’s third wartime prime minister since Russia’s full-scale invasion began.
The appointment caps a sweeping cabinet reshuffle that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced around July 12, one that prioritizes energy resilience, foreign policy, and security over virtually everything else.
A private-sector outsider takes the reins
Koretskyi’s resume reads like a corporate biography, not a political one. Born on March 14, 1978, in Lutsk, he spent over two decades in the private sector at Continuum Group from 1997 to 2018 before transitioning to state-owned energy companies.
His most notable pre-appointment work came at Ukrnafta, where he led reforms aimed at dismantling oligarchic control over the company’s operations. He then moved to Naftogaz, Ukraine’s largest state energy company, taking the CEO role starting May 14, 2025, where his focus shifted to preparing the country’s energy infrastructure for winter.
