Once again, Ukraine’s government is undergoing a reshuffle.
On Dec. 16, the parliament fired Serhiy Besarab, the minister of veteran affairs. Army General Besarab was appointed minister on March 4, yet, according to lawmakers, showed no results as a government official.
At least one more dismissal will follow.
Ecology Minister Roman Abramovsky has submitted a resignation letter and will most likely be dismissed by parliament on Dec. 17.
Citing its sources in the government, the Ukrainska Pravda news outlet reported that Security Service Major-General Yulia Laputina is the frontrunner to replace Besarab as minister of veteran affairs, while Roman Opimakh, head of the State Geology and Subsoil Service, is expected to be appointed ecology minister.
Additionally, the posts of minister of education and minister of energy remain vacant.
Currently, Serhiy Shkarlet serves as acting education minister, a position he has held since June. He is now a candidate to officially become the minister.
Olha Buslavets served as the acting energy minister, but was dismissed by the Cabinet on Nov. 20.
Her ousting wasn’t a surprise. Buslavets was long accused of lobbying the interests of oligarch Rinat Akhmetov and his DTEK energy company. Both she and Akhmetov’s representatives deny that. Buslavets was the only minister who declined to sign a protocol that said that the infamous “Rotterdam+” coal pricing formula had robbed the nation.
Yuriy Vitrenko, a former executive director of Naftogaz Ukraine, is the primary candidate to head the energy ministry, Ukrainian media reported following President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Dec. 15 meeting with his 247-member Servant of the People faction to discuss government appointments.
Under President Zelensky, government changes have become a regular feature of political life.
On March 4, parliament sacked the government of Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk just six months after it was appointed. A conflict between Honcharuk, Zelensky and several lawmakers predated the prime minister’s ouster.
On the same day, Denys Shmyhal was appointed prime minister. However, not all government openings were filled at once, with the ministries of economy, energy and education remaining without a leader.
On March 30, just three weeks after their appointment, the ministers of finance and health were fired. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ukraine, the country went through three health ministers in one month.
Furthermore, Zelensky’s government used a legal provision allowing for an acting minister to be appointed without parliamentary approval to bypass the requirement to submit candidates to parliament. This clause made government reshuffles easier.
