Parliament in Kyiv elects Svyrydenko as Ukraine's new Prime Minister

The vote for Svyrydenko was clear, with 289 votes in favor out of 318 members of parliament. The parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, announced the result on Wednesday. The nomination came from President Volodymyr Zelensky, who aims to set new accents for the ongoing war and crisis situation with a comprehensive government reshuffle.

Political environment

The change of office is also connected with the departure of Mykhailo Fedorov from the Defense Ministry. Fedorov, 35 years old, was long regarded as one of the youngest and most popular ministers in the government. Zelensky's long-time confidant had initially led the president's media campaign during the 2019 election before taking over the newly created Digital Ministry and subsequently moving to the defense portfolio.

Fedorov bade farewell on Wednesday evening via the online service Telegram. "Es war eine große Ehre, dem ukrainischen Volk als Verteidigungsminister zu dienen," he stated there. He also spoke of a "große Ehre" — a great honor — of having served the Ukrainian people in this role, took stock of his ministry's work, and acknowledged his own shortcomings.

Reform record at the Defense Ministry

Among the successes Fedorov claims for himself is the reform of the procurement process in the defense sector. As a result, the costs of artillery munitions fell by 16 percent. Operationally, he also points to the campaign against Russian supply routes, which according to Ukrainian accounts contributed to the logistical strangulation of Crimea.

Fedorov said he took over the ministry with a budget of zero and had reallocated funds from the personnel budget. In early July 2026, he documented the record of his time in office on social networks; a tweet from his account listed the achievements under the title "Here is what our team managed to achieve."

The change at the top of government is taking place in a politically charged environment. As the Kyiv Independent reports, citing several members of parliament and analysts, there had recently been an increasingly sharp conflict between Fedorov and the Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky. A report by the Financial Times fueled further speculation.

A member of the governing party commented on this: "Das wirkt wie Verrat." According to this lawmaker, the episode amounts to a political earthquake. The phrase "Das wirkt wie Verrat" was used in an initial reaction to the reshuffle and was picked up by several media outlets. Another observer summed up the situation with the words: "Ich denke, Selenskyj hat sich damit eine Zeitbombe gelegt."

Reactions and criticism

Indeed, part of the public reacted with incomprehension to Fedorov's departure. According to reports, supporters chanted calls such as "Schande" and "Bring Fedorow zurück." Fedorov was regarded in Ukraine as one of the most popular ministers; he enjoys particular recognition among younger citizens.

The reshuffle had also been preceded by an incident that laid bare the strain on society caused by the ongoing mobilization. Just under a week earlier, around 200 people in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv had attacked a recruitment commission and destroyed its service vehicle in the process. Scenes like these illustrate the tensions between the state's personnel requirements and public sentiment.

Officially, President Volodymyr Zelensky justified the move with a comprehensive government reshuffle and new challenges facing the country. Svyrydenko's appointment is being interpreted in the president's circles as a signal of economic stabilization and crisis management in energy policy.

Svyrydenko brings relevant experience to the task. In the past, she restructured, among others, the oil producer Ukrnafta after the previously oligarch-dominated company was nationalized in autumn 2022. Her tenure at the head of Naftogaz coincided with a period in which Russian attacks on energy facilities repeatedly worsened the supply situation.

At the head of Naftogaz, Svyrydenko had driven forward the restructuring of another state-owned enterprise previously shaped in part by oligarchs. Observers see her appointment as an attempt to combine economic policy continuity with a clear wartime logic. A central task will be to secure energy supply through the cold season.

Expectations for the term in office

The new personnel lineup draws on a relatively young government apparatus: with Fedorov, 35, the youngest member of the government left his post. His successor at the head of the Defense Ministry had not been definitively named at the time of reporting; the government announced further personnel decisions.

The opposition criticized the pace of the change. Lawmakers pointed out that, in the midst of an active war, short-notice reshuffles could damage confidence in the leadership. Supporters of the president, by contrast, argue that precisely in wartime, clear responsibilities and fresh impetus are needed to address bottlenecks in energy and procurement.

International attention to the government reshuffle is also high. Western capitals are closely monitoring the personnel decisions in Kyiv because they are expected to provide insights into the country's strategic direction in the fourth year of war. The simultaneous focus on energy infrastructure and military procurement points to a dual strategy.

Overall, it is becoming apparent that Svyrydenko's first weeks in office will be strongly shaped by operational requirements: preparing for winter, stabilizing energy supply, and the question of how the personnel change at the Defense Ministry can be absorbed. Her economic expertise is regarded in Kyiv as an important prerequisite for coordinating these tasks.

It remains to be seen what consequences Fedorov's dismissal will have for the domestic political mood. The protest chants from within the camp of government supporters show that the move is not uncontested even within Zelensky's own ranks. The coming weeks will show whether the reshuffle is perceived as a necessary adaptation to the wartime situation or as a risk to political stability.

The news was broadcast on July 16, 2026, on the program Deutschlandfunk. The dpa picked up the report in its news channel. The change of government in Kyiv thus also received immediate attention in German-language reporting, not least because of Ukraine's significance for European security and energy policy.

With Svyrydenko as the new head of government, there is an expectation that economic competence and energy policy will be linked more closely than before. Her predecessor at the head of government had been dismissed; now it is up to her, in a phase in which attacks on infrastructure and fluctuating weather conditions threaten supply, to lead the country through the next winter.