Zelenskyy backs state energy company chief Koretskyi for new Ukraine PM

Ukraine’s parliament is expected to vote for the next prime minister on Thursday. 

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Sergii Koretskyi, the head of Ukraine’s state energy company Naftogaz, is the best candidate to serve as the next prime minister as the country undergoes its second cabinet reshuffle in a year.

“The priorities are clear – preparing for winter,” Zelenskyy said on Wednesday as Kyiv braces for another season of expected Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid. “Therefore, following ⁠all the consultations, Sergii Koretskyi is surely the ⁠most prepared candidate for the post of prime minister of Ukraine.”

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If selected by parliament, which is responsible for naming the prime minister, Koretskyi would succeed Yulia Svyrydenko, whom Zelenskyy pushed out after just a year on the job.

Parliament accepted Svyrydenko’s resignation as prime minister ⁠on Tuesday and is expected to vote on her replacement on Thursday. The chamber is likely to go with Zelenskyy’s preferred candidate because his party controls a majority of the seats in parliament.

New ‘political strategy’

A prime minister’s resignation automatically triggers the resignation of the entire cabinet, meaning a wider shake-up is expected.

Particular attention has ⁠turned to the fate of Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov at a time when the tide on ⁠the battlefield has been shifting in Ukraine’s ⁠favour as it presses a campaign of long-range drone attacks on Russia.

Fedorov, 35, is a promoter of technological innovations who comes from outside the Ministry of Defence establishment and took charge ‌there six months ago.

Asked whether Fedorov would retain his post as defence minister in the new cabinet, Zelenskyy said he would meet Fedorov ‌and ‌the army leadership on Wednesday before a planned meeting with lawmakers from the ruling party.

Zelenskyy has offered little explanation for the latest shake-up, saying only that Ukraine is pursuing a new “political strategy” that requires new appointments, including in government and law enforcement.

He said the new political strategy would focus on key foreign policy priorities, including agreements to manufacture Patriot air defence systems under licence, advancing Ukraine’s bid for European Union membership and deepening ties with the Gulf region, which he described as one of the world’s “most promising” areas for security and economic cooperation.