Today, the Verkhovna Rada will dismiss Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna and Justice Minister Denys Malyuska. Tomorrow (5 September), the parliament plans to appoint new government officials. The final list of candidates will be announced at a meeting of the Servant of the People faction on the evening of 4 September.
Sources in the Verkhovna Rada told LB.ua.
"There will be the resignation of Justice Minister Denys Malyuska, who has long wanted to resign of his own free will. But he was not let go. His powers will be taken over by Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna, who has long been involved in European integration. She has also formally written a letter of resignation, but will in fact be promoted," the source said.
Also, Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Iryna Vereshchuk will resign at her own request, and her powers will be transferred to the new Deputy and Minister of Regions, Oleksiy Kuleba.
Earlier, in a commentary to LB.UA, the current deputy head of the Presidential Administration, Oleksiy Kuleba, denied that he had received any offers to head the Ministry of Regional Development.
Rostyslav Shurma, the Deputy Head of the OP, also resigned of his own free will. However, LB.ua's sources emphasise that "the resignation was not voluntary, but the result of pressure from international partners".
"Difficult communication with the head of the presidential administration resulted in Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also resigning. Instead, the president will nominate Andriy Sybiga (Kuleba's deputy, formerly Yermak's deputy) or Ihor Zhovkva (Yermak's deputy). Oleksiy Kamyshin from the Ministry of Strategic Industries will move to the Presidential Administration to replace Oleksiy Kuleba. Kamyshin's deputies are the most likely to replace him: Serhiy Boyev or Herman Smetanin," the source added in an interview with LB.ua.
"The name of Oleksandr Pertsovsky, the head of Ukrzaliznytsya, is being suggested as the head of the Ministry of Infrastructure. Although the final decision has not been made. It is unexpected that the current head of the State Property Fund, Vitaliy Koval, is to be appointed to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy instead of acting Taras Vysotskyy, who was called the most likely head after Mykola Solskyy. Instead of Ruslan Strilets, Svitlana Hrynchuk, who has worked and is currently the Deputy Minister of Energy, is a candidate for the Ministry of Ecology," the Rada predicts.
A separate category of acting ministers will be appointed as full-fledged heads. These are: Matviy Bidnyy, the Ministry of Sports, and Oleksandr Porkhun, the Ministry of Veterans.
"Earlier, acting Minister Rostyslav Karandieyev was a candidate for the Ministry of Culture, but now it is not certain that he will be appointed. Because the name of the deputy [head] of the OP Mykola Tochytskyy has appeared," the source said.
"By the way, the idea of the Ministry of Unity has not been abandoned. They may rename it the Ministry of Reintegration after Vereshchuk's dismissal," another source suggests.
In a comment to LB.ua back in the spring, when rumours of her resignation surfaced, Iryna Vereshchuk herself assured that she was "hearing about it for the first time". But she has not received any such proposals.
"The final list will be on the evening of 4 September after the faction meeting (of the Servant of the People). But they refused to completely reset the Government with the resignation of Denys Shmyhal. Because we need to adopt budgetary changes for the 24th year to increase defence funding. And to finalise the tax changes that the Rada failed yesterday (3 September) by sending them back for a second reading," says the Servant MP.
In addition to the head of government, the following ministers will retain their positions: Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers Oleh Nemchynov, Vice Minister for Digitalisation Mykhaylo Fedorov, Minister of Finance Serhiy Marchenko, Ministry of Defence Rustem Umerov, Ministry of Health Viktor Lyashko, Ministry of Energy Herman Halushchenko, Ministry of Social Policy Oksana Zholnovych, Ministry of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko, and Minister of Education Oksen Lisovyy.
According to MP Oleksiy Honcharenko, most of the ministers who had written letters of resignation did not attend the meetings of the relevant committees today.