Zelenskyy backs state energy company chief Koretskyi for new Ukraine PM

Published 15 July 2026 · politics

The Ukrainian president has also dismayed some lawmakers by replacing his defence minister despite military successes. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Sergii Koretskyi, the head

The Ukrainian president has also dismayed some lawmakers by replacing his defence minister despite military successes. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Sergii Koretskyi, the head of Ukraine’s state energy company Naftogaz, is the best candidate to serve as the next prime minister, and has controversially replaced his defence 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.” 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. Controversy over defence minister A prime minister’s resignation automatically triggers the resignation of the entire cabinet, meaning a wider shake-up is expected. Particular attention has focused on 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, a promoter of technological innovations who comes from outside the Ministry of Defence establishment and took charge there six months ago, announced his resignation on Wednesday.

Members of parliament, posting on social media after a meeting with the president, said he would appoint Ihor Klymenko, interior minister since 2023, to take on the defence portfolio. Some lawmakers expressed dismay at Zelenskyy’s decision to replace Fedorov as defence minister just as Ukraine appears to be putting fresh pressure on Russia by long-range drone strikes on energy targets and by slowing its battlefield advances. Oleksandr ⁠Merezhko, the chair of parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and member of Zelenskyy’s party, expressed disappointment at the prospect of Fedorov being replaced. “Fedorov… is highly respected amongst our international partners,” he said on social media. “His name was associated with hopes for genuine reforms within the Ministry of Defence.” Maria Berlinska, a prominent volunteer and drone warfare advocate, said Fedorov’s replacement was “one of President Zelenskyy’s biggest mistakes.