UKRAINE WATCH: Zelensky nominates new prime minister as he pivots from trenches to spreadsheets
The move reveals how executive power has centralised around Zelensky’s presidential office, overseen by his chief-of-staff Andriy Yermak, who is widely seen as the architect of this consolidation.
With elections suspended under martial law, Ukraine’s cabinet is being refreshed. President Volodymyr Zelensky is replacing Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, a technocratic administrator who has held office since March 2020.
His nominee, Yulia Svyrydenko, the 39-year-old first deputy prime minister and economy minister, reflects a broader shift in Kyiv’s priorities, from trenches to spreadsheets, as the war becomes as much about fiscal management and diplomacy as about combat.
While President Zelensky filed Yulia Svyrydenko’s nomination with parliament in Kyiv on Monday, Ukraine’s military situation was worsening. Russian forces are pressing toward Sumy, a northeastern city near the Russian border, turning streets into no-man’s land as artillery reshapes the landscape
In the Donbas, Ukrainian units face mounting casualties under heavy artillery and drone attack.
Last week alone, more than 700 drones and missiles struck Ukrainian cities in a single night, forcing exhausted civilians back into shelters and testing depleted air defences.
The United States, under President Donald Trump, has pledged to restart weapons shipments to Kyiv, but the promised deliveries come months after they were urgently needed, leaving Ukraine exposed as it fights its fourth year of war.
Ukraine has not held a national election since parliamentary polls in July 2019 and the presidential election in April 2019. Under martial law, both ballots remain indefinitely suspended.
Against this backdrop, Zelensky is refreshing his government, pivoting to budgets, defence production and diplomacy as core arenas of survival.
Power consolidates
This is Ukraine’s most significant wartime reshuffle since Russia’s full-scale invasion, but it is more than a change of personnel.
By nominating Yulia Svyrydenko as prime minister, President Volodymyr Zelensky signals a pivot from battlefield management to economic endurance through deregulation, defence-industrial localisation and fiscal discipline, which are new priorities for the government.
But the move also reveals how executive power has centralised around Zelensky’s presidential office, overseen by his chief-of-staff Andriy Yermak, who is widely seen as the architect of this consolidation.
As one Ukrainian official told The Economist, “The vast majority of people are now his”, referring to Yermak.
Why now
The reshuffle follows months of cabinet stagnation and sliding public trust. A May 2025 poll by Ukraine’s Rating Group showed declining confidence in ministers, many of whom were seen as ineffective or exhausted after years of war.
Denys Shmyhal, prime minister since March 2020 and the longest-serving in Ukraine’s modern history, had survived previous reshuffle attempts because he posed no political threat: he had no electoral base and rarely challenged the president’s office.
But the external environment has shifted. Since returning to the White House, US President Donald Trump has demanded that Kyiv demonstrate “self-reliance”, pushing for a counterpart who can manage reform and navigate Washington’s new diplomatic tone.
Yulia Svyrydenko, who won plaudits in Washington for her fluent English and less confrontational style compared to Zelensky, and was a key negotiator on the controversial US–Ukraine minerals deal, fits this need.
Domestically, the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s unicameral parliament, has become a stalled machine. Zelensky’s once-commanding party now unable to pass laws without cobbling together unstable coalitions, reflecting the erosion of majority rule and the exhaustion of crisis governance.
Only 2% of laws in 2024 passed on the votes of Zelensky’s Servant of the People party alone, exposing the erosion of its once-commanding majority.
Zelensky increasingly depends on reshuffles as a kind of shadow elections where new ministers are presented in place of new mandates.
Without elections, suspended under martial law, and without an effective majority, the cabinet is the remaining arena where he can show control and change. Svyrydenko herself is key to this strategy.
Who is Yulia Svyrydenko?
At 39, Yulia Svyrydenko embodies a new generation of Ukrainian technocrats. An economist by training, educated at the Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics, she rose quickly from regional administration in Chernihiv, her native region near the Belarusian border, to senior roles in central government.
Her early career included a stint leading an investment mission to China, before she was elevated to deputy head of Zelensky’s presidential office in 2020 and appointed economy minister the following year.
Svyrydenko has earned a reputation for composure under pressure, especially in international settings. During the fraught 2024 negotiations over the US–Ukraine minerals deal, it was Svyrydenko who restored talks after a public clash between Zelensky and Donald Trump derailed the process.
The Times noted that her “charm and fluent English” helped soothe tense discussions with Trump’s envoys.
Her direct engagement has earned praise in Washington, where she is viewed as a reliable, professional partner.
But inside Kyiv’s political class, perceptions are more divided. Iryna Herashchenko, a veteran opposition MP, has called Svyrydenko “Miss Whatever You Wish”, a jibe reflecting scepticism that she will bring independence to the premiership.
Her loyalty to Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s powerful chief-of-staff, is widely acknowledged, and many observers see her as an executor of his decisions.
Yet her record is also marked by competence and an ability to cut through bureaucracy, qualities urgently needed as Ukraine’s government pivots from battlefield management to economic survival.
Svyrydenko is set to become only the second woman to serve as Ukraine’s prime minister, after Yulia Tymoshenko, but her role will be defined by loyalty and efficiency more than political ambition.
Andriy Yermak’s shadow
Andriy Yermak, President Zelensky’s chief-of-staff, has become Ukraine’s most powerful unelected figure.
A former film producer, entertainment lawyer and business fixer active in Kyiv’s film and television industry during the 2000s, Yermak joined Zelensky’s team as an aide in 2019 and swiftly rose to run the presidential office.
The position grants him control over access, information, and influence at the heart of Ukraine’s wartime state.
His ascent has been marked by quiet purges and patient consolidation of power, with rivals gradually sidelined and loyalists elevated to key posts.
Svyrydenko worked closely with Yermak as his deputy before becoming economy minister and is widely viewed as a figure who will execute decisions without contest.
Her nomination as prime minister removes another potential centre of power from outside the presidential office and places day-to-day government firmly under the control of Yermak.
Ukraine’s strategy
Svyrydenko’s appointment signals a clear strategic change in Kyiv. Her task is not battlefield management but financial command: reassuring international donors that Ukraine remains fiscally disciplined, bringing weapons production onshore, and imposing tighter controls on public spending.
Her priorities reflect the government’s shift from a soldier’s war to a financier’s war. In this phase, Ukraine’s survival depends as much on budgets and diplomacy as on the front line.
She is expected to cut “non-critical” state spending, harmonise Ukrainian legislation with European Union standards, especially in areas like procurement, competition and anti-corruption, and oversee a rapid localisation of defence manufacturing, easing dependence on imports.
Svyrydenko herself framed her mission, writing: “The state apparatus has no right to waste the resources and potential of our country.”
What’s next?
The Verkhovna Rada’s vote on Svyrydenko’s appointment is expected to be swift but could reveal fractures in the pro-presidential coalition.
If confirmed, which seems likely, Denys Shmyhal is likely to shift to the defense ministry, while current Defence Minister Rustem Umerov is tipped to become ambassador to Washington.
Svyrydenko’s “first 100 days” will be watched closely to see if she can deliver on key reform bills harmonising Ukrainian law with European Union standards.
Kyiv’s leadership has turned inward, narrowing the field of decision-making even as the battlefield widens and the shells fall closer to home.
“The Russians are slow-roasting us over a low flame,” despairs one senior official; a reminder that urgency on the battlefield is still driving decisions in Kyiv.
A version of this article first appeared at TVP World.
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