Thursday Briefing: Ukraine Reshuffles its Government

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, laid out plans for the broadest reshuffling of his cabinet since the war began two years ago. The country’s foreign minister was one of half a dozen senior officials who offered their resignation yesterday, and a new list of minsters is expected today.

Zelensky’s overhaul comes at a precarious moment in the war. Russian attacks across Ukraine have increased, killing dozens over the past week. And Ukrainian forces are still trying to maintain control of territory that they have seized in western Russia now that their incursion into the Kursk region has slowed.

His announcement did not appear to signal fundamental shifts in domestic or foreign policy, but may suggest he’s planning for a “new phase of the war,” some analysts say. But some critics are worried that such changes could further concentrate power in Zelensky’s office, depending on who is named to fill the posts.

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