Zelensky names new PM as he shakes up cabinet in bid to reinvigorate war effort
Yulia Svyrydenko has become the country's first new head of government since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
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Ms Svyrydenko is one of a group of officials taking on new roles in Ukraine's government, as President Volodymyr Zelensky reshuffles the Cabinet in a bid to energise a war-weary nation and boost domestic weapons production in the face of Russia's grinding invasion.
At home, however, the cabinet recalibration has not been seen as a major shift, as the Ukrainian leader continues to rely on officials who have proven their effectiveness and loyalty during the war, now in its fourth year.
Yulia Svyrydenko is the new PM (AP)
Mr Zelensky submitted nominations on Thursday to shuffle top government positions, including the replacement of Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, the longest-serving head of government in Ukraine's history.
Mr Shmyhal now moves to become defence minister, according to the parliamentary website.
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Other changes are expected in the cabinet, but Ms Svyrydenko's appointment as prime minister is taking centre-stage.
She played a key role in negotiating a US–Ukraine mineral agreement, ensuring the terms were acceptable to Kyiv. Ms Svyrydenko has frequently represented Ukraine in high-level talks with western partners, focusing on defence co-operation, economic recovery and reconstruction.
Politicians and fellow officials describe her as a diligent executive with a reputation for loyalty to the presidential office.
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The Independent
17 minutes ago
- The Independent
Could Trump's ceasefire summit with Putin actually achieve a breakthrough?
Both the White House and the Kremlin have confirmed that a US-Russia summit will take place in the coming days, with reports suggesting a possible three-way meeting that would also include Ukraine's President Zelensky. The news follows three hours of talks between Vladimir Putin and Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, following his fourth visit to Moscow. If either summit happens, this could mark the most progress towards ending the war since Donald Trump came to office and pledged, unsuccessfully, to end the conflict within 24 hours. But this trilateral encounter is another high-stakes gamble. Top-level diplomacy does not usually happen like this. The lead time for an old-fashioned US-Russia summit would commonly be months, with the Kremlin in particular favouring meticulous preparation. So what has changed? An obvious answer would be Trump's ultimatum to Putin to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine by this Friday, 'or else' – that last remaining unspecified, but thought to include new economic sanctions, including on countries, such as India, that continue to buy Russian oil. There was also Trump's announcement that two nuclear submarines were to be repositioned, apparently in response to threats made, not for the first time, by former president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chair of Russia's security council. However, there is no way any Kremlin leader, least of all Putin, could be seen to be yielding to outside pressure. Putin's insouciance over Trump's deadline on Ukraine, and the Kremlin's studied non-reaction to the nuclear deployments, spoke volumes. Above all, a summit on the old superpower model is no concession on Putin's part, but something he has long sought. A question often asked, but rarely answered, is what cards Trump has to play concerning Russia and the war in Ukraine. The threat of further Western sanctions has proved ineffective in forcing any change. The US is no longer funding weapons for Ukraine – it has passed that responsibility to the Europeans – to what effect remains to be seen. The war has slowly turned in Russia's favour, leaving little incentive for it to halt hostilities now. But the US has at least two things to offer that Russia craves. The first is enshrined in a bilateral summit, which would signal a return to recognition of Russia as an international power with interests of its own and a demonstrative end to the isolation that the Biden administration and the Europeans tried to impose. The second is a willingness to address what Russia sees as wider issues affecting security. The two decades that Putin has been in power have seen the steady dismantling of almost all the security architecture built during the Cold War. Russia wants some of this back, which is what it means when it talks about the need to solve issues underlying the Ukraine war – not just ending the war itself. While it can reasonably be argued that Russia brought this insecurity on itself with its all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia's view is that its security concerns go back to at least 2008, when Nato hedged about eventual membership for Ukraine and then when Ukraine abandoned its neutral status in 2014. For Putin to agree to a summit with Trump, the agenda has to go beyond Ukraine and encompass wider issues of security. A bilateral summit along these lines could just be enough to make what would undoubtedly be a concession on Putin's part – a trilateral summit with Zelensky – worth showing up for. Compared with the reasons that might take Putin to either summit, the rationale for Trump and Zelensky is far clearer. Despite his use of force against Iran, Trump sees himself as a peacemaker – with a Nobel Prize in his sights. Reconnecting with Russia also serves US interests in potentially loosening Putin's need for China. Zelensky has rightly always objected to talks about Ukraine being held without Ukraine. Having mended his fences with Trump after February's Oval Office ambush, he is also less wary of the president's motives than he was. Looming over all, though, is the state of the war, which is not moving in Kyiv's direction, and the first real intimations of domestic discontent in recent anti-corruption protests. Nor would there appear to be any legal bar. A presidential decree that forbade any Ukrainian leader from talking to Putin has been disregarded since May, when Zelensky said he was prepared to meet Putin – although those talks, planned for Istanbul, did not happen at that level. As for a venue, Trump might well favour the White House; Putin would doubtless prefer a neutral location, such as Geneva or somewhere in the Gulf. Zelensky will go anywhere to defend Ukraine's interests. The prospect is so momentous that it seems almost to tempt fate to mention it. Could it be that after three and a half years, the war in Ukraine is nearing its end?
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Ben Wallace: Invite Britain to peace talks or Zelensky will be bullied
Britain must be invited to peace talks to stop Volodymyr Zelensky from being bullied by Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, Sir Ben Wallace has said. The former defence secretary said the Ukrainian president is a 'brave man' but would need support to push back against Mr Trump and the Russian president who are 'known to be bullies'. Mr Trump will reportedly hold talks with Putin as soon as next week, followed by trilateral talks with Mr Zelensky. European nations are not going to be included in the discussions. Sir Ben said a 'European power' should be 'in the room' to ensure Ukraine is not forced to accept an unsatisfactory deal. Asked if he believed there was a possibility that Ukraine could be 'strong-armed' by Mr Trump into agreeing to something it does not actually want to do, Sir Ben told Times Radio: 'Yes, there is a concern and I think that is why, there are two other nuclear powers in Nato, France and Britain, and I think it is important that in the room should be a European power. 'Because both Trump and Putin are known to be bullies, they bully people all the time, and I don't think two bullies versus Zelensky, who is a brave man, but I don't think would necessarily produce the right outcomes. 'If this is going to be a peace process, those people who have skin in the game, and that is Europeans as well as Ukraine and indeed the United States, should be part of that peace making process.' The announcement of talks has raised hopes that an end to the conflict could be in sight after more than three years of intense fighting. After speaking to the US president on the phone, Mr Zelensky said he believed Russia was 'now more inclined to a ceasefire'. Meanwhile, Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign affairs adviser, said a summit could possibly take place next week at a venue that has been decided 'in principle'. He brushed aside the possibility of Mr Zelensky joining the summit, however. It came after Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump's special envoy, met with the Russian president in Moscow for three hours. At the same time, Mr Trump intensified his pressure on Putin with fresh sanctions, declaring Russia to be an 'extraordinary threat' to the United States. Mr Trump hit India with a further 25 per cent trade tariff over its purchase of Russian oil, a vital source of income for the Kremlin. It was not clear how the announcement of the meeting would affect Mr Trump's Friday deadline for Russia to stop the killing or face its own economic sanctions. The meeting would be the first US-Russia summit since 2021, when Joe Biden, the former US president, met Putin in Geneva. It would be a significant milestone toward Mr Trump's effort to end the war, although there is no guarantee it would stop the fighting as Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart on their conditions for peace. The war has killed tens of thousands of troops on both sides as well as more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the United Nations. Western officials have repeatedly accused Putin of stalling for time in peace negotiations to allow Russian forces time to capture more Ukrainian land. Putin previously offered no concessions, claiming he would only accept a settlement on his terms, which Ukraine has said would be tantamount to surrender.
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Putin offers little sign that Trump talks will lead to peace
In his attempts to end the war in Ukraine, President Trump has struggled to pin down Moscow to a deal he once boasted he would achieve within 24 hours of taking office. After veering from optimism to despair and back again, the US leader is hoping for a summit in the coming days with President Putin, followed by three-way talks that would include President Zelensky of Ukraine. 'I've been disappointed before with this one. I'm here to get the thing over with,' Trump said at the White House on Wednesday after his envoy, Steve Witkoff, spoke to Putin in the Kremlin. Trump claimed 'great progress' had been made but gave no details. Talks with Putin would mark the first US-Russia summit since 2021, when President Biden met him in Geneva. Trump has not said where or when it could take place. Yuri Ushakov, a Kremlin aide, said on Thursday that the two leaders would meet 'in the coming days' but was similarly short of details.
