The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has launched a broad government reshuffle, ousting the country’s prime minister amid falling approval ratings and signs that his reform agenda has stalled.
Oleksiy Honcharuk, 35, was dismissed on Wednesday by a vote of lawmakers in Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, automatically causing the resignation of the government. His term as prime minister lasted less than six months and was beset by political infighting and the release of a secret recording in which he referred to Zelenskiy’s understanding of economics as “primitive”.
Zelenskiy has proposed Denys Shmygal, 44, as his replacement. He is a little-known former official and businessman from western Ukraine who used to work for DTEK, an energy firm owned by Rinat Akhmetov, one of Ukraine’s richest men.
The shake-up could also elevate other candidates with ties to previous governments and major businessmen, raising further questions of what it could mean for the window of change under Zelenskiy. “The picture in Kyiv today looks very grim indeed,” wrote Melinda Haring of the Atlantic Council thinktank.
It is the second big political shake-up in Ukraine in the last month, following Zelenskiy’s decision to fire Andriy Bohdan as his chief of staff. Despite some early success pushing through changes, Zelenskiy now faces an unruly parliament, a backlash against his candidates to clean up law enforcement, and a long delay of a $5.5bn (£4.3bn) loan from the IMF. His foreign policy has also hit snags, including stalled negotiations with Russia over the war in south-east Ukraine and his part in the US impeachment scandal.
However, the domestic agenda is dominating. Zelenskiy, in a speech on Wednesday, praised the current government’s achievements in tackling inflation and illegal business but also said it was “not enough for Ukrainians”.
“I am sure that any state makes a step toward the abyss, when it loses three main things: memory, hearing and vision,” Zelenskiy said during the speech in parliament. “When the state forgets its promises, it ceases to hear the people and stops seeing the need for changes.”
Zelenskiy, a former television producer and comedy actor, swept to power in a landslide victory last year by promising to fight corruption and end the war in south-east Ukraine. His new political party, Servant of the People, won a majority later that year, bringing a wave of new faces into Ukraine’s parliament.
His health minister, Zoriana Skaletska, was also dismissed on Wednesday. Last month she voluntarily joined a coronavirus quarantine after six buses carrying evacuees from China were met by protesters hurling stones on their way to a sanatorium in central Ukraine. “I am indeed thankful to Ms Skaletska for staying with the people in Novi Sanzhary,” said Zelenskiy. “Thank you for your bravery, but in our [medical establishment], bravery cannot be a single action.”