Meet Ukraine's First Woman PM – Rising From The Rubble, She Now Takes The Helm Of A Wartime Nation
She becomes Ukraine's 19th prime minister at a defining moment. As June ends, so does Denys Shmyhal's five-year tenure. What follows is a transition of power, vision, voice and urgency. Svyrydenko steps in not as a populist, nor a wartime orator, but as a calm and calculated technocrat. She is an economist by training, a builder of frameworks and a problem-solver in the middle of crisis.
Her path to this moment has been decades in the making. Born on Christmas Day in 1985 in Chernihiv, Svyrydenko was a standout student at Kyiv's State University of Trade and Economics. With a master's degree in antitrust management, she started in the private sector before transitioning to public service in 2011. Her early years saw her posted to China and later advising regional governments on economic growth.
By 2019, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took notice. He brought her into a socio-economic working group during early peace dialogues, later elevating her to deputy head of the Presidential Office. In November 2021, months before Russia's full-scale invasion, she became deputy prime minister and minister of economy.
Then came war.
Instead of retreating, she helped Ukraine navigate one of its darkest periods. She played a pivotal role in securing a U.S.-Ukraine Reinvestment Fund in 2022, unlocking funding for rebuilding and tapping into Ukraine's mineral wealth. This year, she carried Ukraine's case to Rome, securing 11 billion euro in recovery pledges from Western partners.
President Zelenskyy formally nominated her on July 14. Three days later, 262 members of Parliament voted in favour. She became the first woman to lead Ukraine's government during wartime.
Her mandate is steep. Ukraine faces a $19 billion fiscal hole. Artillery shells continue to fall. But she has already laid out her battle plan – deeper fiscal reforms, deregulation, privatisation and a push to manufacture at least half of Ukraine's military equipment domestically within six months. She aims to speed up EU integration and deepen military ties with the United States.
In her first message on X, she wrote, 'Our Government sets its course toward a Ukraine that stands firm on its own foundations – military, economic and social. My key goal is real, positive results that every Ukrainian will feel in daily life. War leaves no room for delay.'
It is a great honor for me to lead the Government of Ukraine today. Our Government sets its course toward a Ukraine that stands firm on its own foundations — military, economic, and social. My key goal is real, positive results that every Ukrainian will feel in daily life.
War… pic.twitter.com/oytWMCp1S3 — Yulia Svyrydenko (@Svyrydenko_Y) July 17, 2025
With that, a new chapter begins.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mint
12 minutes ago
- Mint
See how drones are dominating every corner of the war in Ukraine
KOSTYANTYNIVKA, Ukraine—On the sun-drenched eastern front of this grueling war, Ukrainian drones are doing more and more jobs, from killing Russian troops to evacuating casualties to bringing dinner to foxholes. Around this city, some infantry from Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade have been stuck in their dugouts for three months. Rotating the troops must wait for fog and rain to block the view of Russian drones. So Ukraine's air and ground drones bring the men food, water and ammunition, said Lt. Col. Yehor Derevianko, a battalion commander in the brigade. 'We even deliver burgers." He's been fighting Russian forces in Ukraine's east since 2014, and says the war is evolving faster than ever. Drones are now so dominant that they force everything else—infantry, armor, artillery, logistics and even trench design—to adapt to a sky full of buzzing robots. The wiry commander leads the defense of his sector from a basement full of large screens under an abandoned apartment block. Men with laptops direct drone pilots to where Russian infantry are trying to infiltrate the fields and woodlands around the city. Members of the 93rd Brigade monitor drone footage in a basement in Kostyantynivka, eastern Ukraine. On one screen, the crosshairs of a reconnaissance drone fixed on a Russian soldier squatting in a bush. A small quadcopter drone closed in slowly and dropped a grenade. It missed. 'He's going to die of old age out there," grumbled Derevianko. The bush swayed gently in the summer breeze. A second grenade turned it into a cloud of gray smoke. Kostyantynivka, an industrial city once home to 67,000 people, is one of the main targets of Russia's summer offensive. Moscow's invasion forces are inching westward across the fertile Donetsk region, exploiting their greater numbers but losing hundreds of assault troops a day for small gains. Drones have overtaken artillery as the number-one cause of Russian fatalities, according to Ukraine's military. With the experienced 93rd Brigade holding firm in Kostyantynivka, the Russians are trying to outflank it via the countryside. Russian infantry must first cross miles of deadly open farmland. They try on foot or on motorbikes. Kostyantynivka, once home to 67,000 people, is a key target in Moscow's summer offensive. Kostyantynivka's train station has been destroyed by Russian shelling and drones. Most are picked off before they come near Ukrainian lines by first-person-view drones, known as FPVs—aircraft the size of dinner plates with four rotors, controlled through a live feed on a pilot's goggles. The surviving Russians try to regroup, then assault a Ukrainian trench or dugout. 'We have to hit them one by one, before they gather," said Derevianko. The most recent armored attack here was around New Year's, when 14 Russian armored vehicles tried to run the gantlet of drones. Only two got close. Then the defending infantry hit them with rocket-propelled grenades. But Russia's drones are also tormenting Kostyantynivka. Their fixed-wing Orlan and Zala reconnaissance drones survey the city continually. Russian FPVs connected to long fiber-optic cables, which make them immune to electronic jamming of the signal, hit anything they see, including civilians. Outside the tidy command basement, the city is dying. Only a fraction of its residents remain. Most shops have closed. Airstrikes scar buildings. Orange husks of burned-out civilian cars lie where they were hit by drones. Derevianko, of the 93rd Brigade, inside an armored vehicle. Army vehicles rumble about covered in grills, nets and other welded-on drone shields, looking like dystopian fantasies from a Mad Max movie. Pvt. Nikita Kremnov rescues wounded infantry in a Nissan Navara pickup sprayed a dull green and sporting a full-body cage with netting. Beyond the city limits, he uses a more nimble quad bike. The last mile to the trenches is now so exposed to Russian fiber-optic drones that the battalion uses only unmanned ground vehicles—drones with tires or tracks—to carry wounded men back from a foxhole. Kremnov was hit and wounded by a fiber-optic drone while evacuating a wounded man who was having an epileptic seizure. 'There was nothing I could do about it. I had to carry on driving." Thirty miles to the southwest, the city of Pokrovsk is further down the road to destruction. It hasn't fallen so far, but the damage is extensive. The Russian advance, like slow-moving lava, is consuming every town it touches with drones and heavy glide bombs. A Ukrainian unit launches an observation drone near Orikhiv, southern are doing more and more jobs in the war. A T-72 tank of Ukraine's 68th Jaeger Brigade hides under the thick summer canopy of a copse outside the city. The unit's tanks work in shifts, rolling into Pokrovsk to fire at Russian targets from long range. The Soviet-era tank was captured from the Russians early in the war. Its crew call it 'Lyalya," an affectionate name a small girl would give a doll. The previous night, Lyalya killed a group of Russian infantry with three direct hits on their dugout. In a drone war, tanks are useful only as mobile artillery pieces, said the company sergeant, who goes by the call sign Puma. Used in an assault, it wouldn't even get near the fight, he said. 'FPVs are just going to kill us." The tank had a narrow escape from a Russian FPV drone only days earlier. It was heading into Pokrovsk before dawn when a car's headlights lit it up from behind. 'Morons," said Puma. The tank's electronic defenses soon sensed a drone and tried to jam it. Members of the 68th Jaeger Brigade on a tank hidden among the trees near Pokrovsk, eastern Ukraine.A mechanic works on the tank. In a drone war, tanks are useful only as mobile artillery pieces, one company sergeant said. The crew used their special tactics, said Puma: 'Accelerate, maneuver, pray." The drone exploded yards away. In a secret bunker under acacia groves and sunflower fields, men of the Bulava drone unit are tinkering with technology to stay a step ahead of the Russians in a robotic arms race. Serhiy Ignatukha, the unit's leader, holds up one kind of answer to the Russians' fiber-optic drones. It's an FPV armed with four 12-bore shotgun barrels. Recently, one such drone had a dogfight with a Russian FPV. Its shotguns missed, so it downed the enemy drone by ramming it and breaking its propellers, said a drone technician known by his call sign Udav. The unit is also working with Ukrainian drone manufacturers on more sophisticated solutions, including FPV-borne lasers that can cut fiber-optic cables. A member of the Bulava drone unit makes antipersonnel mines to be dropped from drones. FPVs using artificial intelligence could become the next big thing, said Udav. He held up a drone with a tiny AI chipboard. Once a pilot has selected a moving target, the drone can complete the attack autonomously from up to 700 yards away, even if jamming blocks the signal. Improved versions are coming out every few months. 'This one is the sixth generation and it has had no failures," Udav said. 'Previously, when you saw 15 Russian vehicles, it was scary. Now it's fun," he said. 'Sadly it's the same for the enemy's drone units." A bomb maker with the unit used a 3-D printer to make drone-dropped mines. Costing $9 each to make, the mines stick in the ground, spray out several 26-foot-long tripwires with small anchors and wait for Russian infantry. The Bulava unit is part of Ukraine's Presidential Brigade, which also performs ceremonial guard duties in Kyiv but mostly became a regular combat brigade after the 2022 invasion. Ignatukha and his men saw the war changing and got into drone technology, using their own salaries to buy equipment and build their skills. The Bulava unit is part of Ukraine's Presidential Brigade, which also performs ceremonial guard duties in Kyiv but mostly became a regular combat brigade after the 2022 invasion. Serhiy Ignatukha, in a green T-shirt and beard, oversees the unit's efforts to stay a step ahead of Russian drone forces in the robotic arms race. 'We had to think out of the box to survive," said Ignatukha. The informal unit, clad in a miscellany of T-shirts, looks more like a tech startup than a palace guard. East of Kostyantynivka, men of the Alcatraz Battalion are fighting Russia's infantry and trying to survive its drones. The unit, part of the 93rd Brigade, is made up of convicted criminals who have signed up to be assault troops. Honorable service gets a conditional release or pardon. The first missions last year went well, said men in the unit. But drones are exacting a growing toll. Convicted thief Pavlo Shyptenko has survived four attacks by FPVs. He was rescuing a wounded comrade this spring when a quadcopter dropped a grenade on him. A tree branch broke the grenade's fall, saving Shyptenko, but coin-sized bits of shrapnel still cut into his back and neck. Full of adrenaline, he carried the wounded man to a car and only noticed a terrible pain when he sat down to drive, he said. Now he's telling new recruits what to do if there's a drone above them. 'Stay still and wait for the grenade drop. Then you have three to five seconds to run away," he said, proudly wearing an Alcatraz unit T-shirt. If a suicide drone is trying to crash into you, wait and dive out of the way, he said. The Alcatraz Battalion interviews applicants for suitability, and doesn't take rapists or serial killers. But it has recruited some murderers. 'We are also murderers," said the deputy battalion commander, a professional officer known by the call sign Daredevil. On a balmy evening, men from Alcatraz trained in the woods, practicing digging covered shelters capable of withstanding FPV hits. 'This one is for a funeral," Daredevil told the diggers of a weakly protected foxhole. Daredevil carries a scar over his right eye from when a Russian shot him in a basement gunfight early in the war. 'We came out of that basement. They didn't." It's a different war today, he said. 'The lions from 2022-2023, who were real warriors, no longer exist," he said. Heavy losses have reduced the quality of soldiers on both sides. 'The men now are not capable of the same feats. Now it's a war of drones." Ukrainian soldiers have had to adapt to a sky full of drones. Drones are exacting a toll on Ukrainian troops. Write to Marcus Walker at
NDTV
an hour ago
- NDTV
Parliament Monsoon Session Live: "Nothing To Say," Says M Kharge On Jagdeep Dhankhar Resignation
Parliament Monsoon Session Day 2 Live Updates: The second day of the monsoon session in the Parliament is set to resume today, with the focus on Bihar Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad. AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh has already given a Suspension of Business notice in the Upper House, demanding a discussion on the Bihar electoral lists. The first day witnessed a stormy session as the Congress-led Opposition demanded an immediate discussion on Operation Sindoor. Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned from his post, citing "medical advice," and stated that he would "prioritise" his health. His resignation was submitted late in the evening after a full day at Rajya Sabha, where he administered the oath of office to five new entrants. The Monsoon Session, which will continue till August 21, with a break from August 12 to August 18, will have 21 sittings across 32 days. Here are the live updates on Parliament Monsoon Session: No Farewell Speech By Jagdeep Dhankhar Today: Sources Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, who resigned on Monday, will not give a farewell speech today citing "health issues", sources said. "Nothing To Say": Congress' Mallikarjun Kharge On Jagdeep Dhankhar's Resignation On Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar's resignation, Rajya Sabha LoP and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said, "Only he knows the reason. We have nothing to say on this. Either the government knows or he knows. It is up to the government to accept his resignation or not." #WATCH | Delhi: On Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar's resignation, Rajya Sabha LoP and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge says, "Only he knows the reason. We have nothing to say on this. Either the government knows or he knows. It is up to the government to accept his resignation… — ANI (@ANI) July 22, 2025 Jul 22, 2025 10:19 (IST) Jagdeep Dhankhar's Resignation Starts Race For Next Vice President Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar's abrupt resignation on Monday evening has opened the contest for his successor. With the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) enjoying a majority in the electorate, which includes the members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, it was taken by surprise by Dhankhar's decision to quit. It is likely to consider the probable names in the coming days. One of the governors, as Dhankhar was of West Bengal before taking the vice president's office, or a seasoned organisational leader or one of the Union ministers -- the BJP has a large pool of leaders to choose from for the position. Jul 22, 2025 10:16 (IST) Congress MP On Electoral Rolls In Bihar Congress MP Manickam Tagore, who submits an adjournment motion to discuss the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, said that it is a "part of a conspiracy to snatch the voting rights of the poor people of Bihar". "The Election Commission of India is also supporting the BJP in this conspiracy. This is very sad...I hope this issue will be discussed in Parliament," he said. #WATCH | Delhi | Congress MP Manickam Tagore says, "Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is part of a conspiracy to snatch the voting rights of the poor people of Bihar. The Election Commission of India is also supporting the BJP in this conspiracy. This is very sad... I hope this… — ANI (@ANI) July 22, 2025 Congress MP Seeks To Discuss Balasore Incident In Lok Sabha Congress MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka on Tuesday morning moved an adjournment motion notice in Lok Sabha to discuss the self-immolation of a young student from Odisha's Balasore, who died reportedly due to "mental harassment and failure of the institutional mechanisms to respond to her repeated complaints." "Allegedly the student had been facing persistent harassment and intimidation at the hands of certain faculty members and peers, and despite her written and verbal appeals to the authorities concerned, no timely or meaningful action was taken to address her grievances, pushing her to take the extreme step," the notice read. Jul 22, 2025 08:10 (IST) 16-Hour Debate On Operation Sindoor In Parliament Next Week A 16-hour debate on Operation Sindoor has been scheduled for next week in parliament. This was announced by the Business Advisory Committee after strong demands from the Opposition. The Opposition has insisted that the debate should be held this week and Prime Minister Narendra Modi must reply. But the matter had to be deferred to next week in view of a scheduled foreign visit of the Prime Minister. Operation Sindoor - the Indian retaliation to the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam -- was among the eight topics the Opposition had sought discussion on during the monsoon session of parliament. The topics were decided on during a marathon virtual meeting of 24 Opposition parties last week. The government's assent to the Operation Sindoor debate came since, sources have said. Jagdeep Dhankhar's Eventful Day In Rajya Sabha Before He Resigned As Vice President In a sudden move, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned from his post on Monday evening to "prioritise health". He has sent his letter to President Droupadi Murmu, saying he is stepping down with immediate effect. "To prioritise health care and abide by medical advice, I hereby resign as the Vice President of India, effective immediately," his letter read. His abrupt move followed an eventful day in the Rajya Sabha - the first day of the Monsoon session of Parliament - under his chairmanship. An opposition-sponsored notice for a motion to remove Justice Yashwant Varma over burnt wads of cash found at his residence was submitted to him, and he mentioned it in the House and asked the secretary general to take further necessary steps. The development came even as the ruling alliance had sponsored a similar notice in the Lok Sabha and taken the opposition on board. Parliament Monsoon Session: Focus On Bihar Roll Revision Likely Today The second day of the monsoon session in the Parliament is set to resume today, with the focus likely to be on Bihar Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad. AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh has already given a Suspension of Business notice in the Upper House, demanding a discussion on the Bihar electoral lists. The first day witnessed a stormy session as the Congress-led Opposition demanded an immediate discussion on Operation Sindoor.
Mint
an hour ago
- Mint
Why did Jagdeep Dhankhar resign? Reasons ‘far deeper' than health issues, claims Congress
Why did Jagdeep Dhankhar resign? Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned as Vice President of India on Monday after an eventful day at the Parliament. Dhankhar's sudden resignation, citing medical reasons, came hours after he presided over the sitting of the Rajya Sabha as chairperson during the first day of Monsoon Session of Parliament. 'To prioritise health care and abide by medical advice, I hereby resign as the Vice President of India, effective immediately, in accordance with Article 67(a) of the Constitution,' Dhankhar said in his resignation to President Droupadi Murmu on Monday night. Dhankar assumed the office of Vice President on 11 August 2022, succeeding Venkaiah Naidu. The Vice President holds office for five years. So, ideally, Dhankhar should have continued to be the Vice President for two more years – until August 2027. But Dhankhar resigned mid-term on Monday. In doing so, he became the third Vice President to quit before completing his term. Before Dhankha, VV Giri and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat were the two Vice Presidents who resigned before completing their terms. On July 22, the Congress claimed the reasons behind Dhankhar's resignation as Vice President are "far deeper" than health issues cited by him, and that his resignation speaks highly of him but poorly of those who got him elected to the post. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh also raised questions over the absence of Union ministers JP Nadda and Kiren Rijiju from the second Business Advisory Committee on Monday, saying "something very serious" happened between 1 pm and 4.30 pm on Monday to account for their deliberate absence from the second BAC. Ramesh pointed out that Dhankhar chaired the BAC of the Rajya Sabha at 12.30 pm on July 21, first day of Monsoon Session of Parliament. "It was attended by most members, including Leader of the House J P Nadda and the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju. After some discussion, the BAC decided to meet again at 4:30 PM," he said in a post on X. At 4.30 pm, the BAC reassembled under the chairmanship of Dhankhar, the Congress leader said. "It waited for Shri Nadda and Shri Rijiju to arrive. They never came. Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar was not personally informed that the two senior Ministers were not attending. Rightly he took umbrage and rescheduled the BAC for today at 1 PM," Ramesh claimed. He said in a post on Tuesday that "something very serious" happened yesterday between 1 pm and 4.30 pm to account for Nadda and Rijiju's deliberate absence from the second BAC yesterday. "Now in a truly unprecedented move, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar has resigned. He has given health reasons for doing so. Those should be respected. But it is also a fact that there are far deeper reasons for his resignation," Ramesh claimed. According to a statement issued by Vice President's Secretariat issued at 3.53 PM on July 21, Dhankhar was supposed to be on a one day visit to Jaipur, Rajasthan on July 23, 2025 to interact with the newly-elected committee members of Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Association of India (CREDAI) Rajasthan at Rambagh Palace, Jaipur. Hours later, however, Dhankhar resigned. While always lauding the post-2014 India, he spoke fearlessly for the welfare of farmers, forcefully against what he called 'ahankar (arrogance)' in public life, and strongly on judicial accountability and restraint, Ramesh said. "To the extent possible under the current G2 ruling regime, he tried to accommodate the Opposition. He was a stickler for norms, proprieties, and protocol, which he believed were being consistently disregarded in both his capacities," he said. "Jagdeep Dhankar's resignation speaks highly of him. It also speaks poorly of those who had got him elected as Vice President in the first instance," he said. Earlier on Monday, the opposition raised questions over Dhankhar's sudden resignation as the vice president, with the Congress saying that clearly, there is "far more to his totally unexpected resignation than meets the eye". The Congress has also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convince Dhankhar to change his mind. "The sudden resignation of the Vice President and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha is as shocking as it is inexplicable. I was with him alongside a number of other MPs till around 5 PM today and had spoken to him over the phone at 7:30 PM," Ramesh said in a post on X on Monday night. Dhankhar recently underwent angioplasty at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi. In his eventful tenure as Rajya Sabha chairman, Dhankhar had several run-ins with the opposition, which had also moved a motion to impeach him. Those should be respected. But it is also a fact that there are far deeper reasons for his resignation. The motion, the first ever in independent India to remove a vice president, was later rejected by Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh.
