The Verkhovna Rada has dismissed Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who has held the post since 2020.
The decision was voted for by 240 MPs, according to MP Oleksiy Honcharenko. Kuleba did not come to the parliament to report.
Of the ‘servants of the people’, 182 voted for the dismissal, 16 from the ‘Platform for Life and Peace’, 15 from ‘Restoration of Ukraine’ (both from the OPFL) and 15 from ‘Dovira’.
Yesterday, the First Deputy Speaker, who was presiding over the meeting, announced a break on the issue of Kuleba's dismissal. The parliament lacked the votes to dismiss the head of the State Property Fund and Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
Instead of Kuleba, they want to appoint Andriy Sybiha, Deputy Foreign Minister, who was previously Andriy Yermak's deputy. Nothing is yet known about Dmytro's new position, unlike his other dismissed colleagues.
Dmytro Kuleba was one of the few ministers who remained in office for all the years after the formation of Denys Shmyhal's new Cabinet in 2020. He submitted his resignation on 4 September, a day after some of his colleagues.
A native of Sumy, Dmytro Kuleba started working in the Foreign Ministry in 2003. Since 2010, he worked in the secretariat of the Foreign Minister and was in charge of Ukraine's image abroad, cooperation with international organisations and relations with the United States.
In 2013, he left the civil service to head the Foundation for Cultural Diplomacy. But in 2014, he returned to the MFA as Ambassador-at-Large for Strategic Communications.
In 2016, he was appointed Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the Council of Europe.
From August 2019 to March 2020, he was Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine.
On 4 March 2020, he was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs is nominated by the President and voted for by the Verkhovna Rada, as with other ministers.