Ukraine’s Government Reshuffle Scheduled for July 17: Key Changes Revealed

Ukraine’s Government – the Cabinet of the Ministries of Ukraine – reshuffle scheduled for July 17, 2025. Yuliia Svyrydenko outlines Zelenskyy’s key priorities for the new Governmen as well as new positions leak reveals by the media.

Yuliia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister and formed deputy of Andriy Yermak, Head of the Presidential Office is likely the main candidate to become the Ukraine’s next Prime Minister, has shared the main tasks President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expects from the updated Cabinet.

According to Svyrydenko, during their recent meeting, the President identified the following top priorities:

• Strengthening Ukraine’s economic potential;
• Expanding social support programs for Ukrainians;
• Scaling up domestic weapons production.

Svyrydenko also pledged to soon present her proposals for new Cabinet appointments.

But shotly after the key changes to the future Government was revealed by RBC-Ukraine.

A major government reshuffle is set to take place in Ukraine on July 17. Several ministries will be restructured, merged, or eliminated, with a number of new appointments expected:

• Ministry of Social Policy – Current minister Oksana Zholnovych will be dismissed. The ministry will be merged with the Ministry of Veterans Affairs. Denys Uliutin is expected to become the new minister.

• Ministry of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories – Oleksandr Chernyshov is stepping down. The ministry will be dissolved entirely.

• Ministry of Culture – Acting Minister Emine Dzhaparova (Tochytskyi was previously considered) is expected to be dismissed.

• Ministry of Defense – Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal is reportedly set to take over the ministry, which will be merged with the Ministry of Strategic Industries.

• Ministry of Economy – Will be consolidated with the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Oleksii Sobolev, currently deputy to First Vice Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko, is expected to be appointed as minister.

▪️ Ministry of Education – No changes are planned; Oksen Lisovyi will remain in his post.

Cabinet Reshuffle: Shmyhal Expected to Become Defense Minister, Svyrydenko to Head Government

According to Ukrainska Pravda sources, current Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal is expected to take over as Ukraine’s Minister of Defense.

In turn, Yuliia Svyrydenko, who has been tapped by President Zelenskyy to lead the government, will likely be replaced at the Ministry of Economy by her current first deputy, Oleksii Soboliev.

Most current ministers are expected to retain their posts:

• Oleksii Kuleba, Vice Prime Minister for Restoration and Minister for Communities and Territories Development — possibly to be promoted to First Vice Prime Minister;
• Olha Stefanishyna, Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration;
• Mykhailo Fedorov, Vice Prime Minister for Innovation and Minister of Digital Transformation;
• Ihor Klymenko, Minister of Internal Affairs;
• Serhii Marchenko, Minister of Finance;
• Andriy Sybiha, Minister of Foreign Affairs;
• Herman Smetanin, Minister for Strategic Industries;
• Matvii Bidnyi, Minister of Youth and Sports;
• Herman Halushchenko, Minister of Energy;
• Svitlana Hrynchuk, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources;
• Nataliia Kalmykova, Minister for Veterans Affairs.

Some ministers are expected to leave:

• Rustem Umerov, current Defense Minister, is reportedly being appointed as Ukraine’s new ambassador to the United States;
• Oleksii Chernyshov, Vice Prime Minister and Minister for National Unity — the newly created ministry is likely to be dissolved;
• Oksana Zholnovych, Minister of Social Policy — a replacement is currently being sought;
• Oksen Lisovyi, Minister of Education and Science — may be replaced by his deputy, Andrii Vitrenko;
• Mykola Tochytskyi, Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications — no successor has been named yet.

The future roles of Vitalii Koval, Minister of Agrarian Policy, and Viktor Liashko, Minister of Health, remain uncertain.

To remind, earlier today, Volodymyr Zelenskyy reportedly nominates former Deputy to the Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak, Yuliia Svyrydenko as new Ukraine’s Prime Minister.

According to reports, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has proposed Yuliia Svyrydenko, a former deputy to the Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak, to head Ukraine’s government.

However, the Center for Combating Corruption has important warning that under the Constitution of Ukraine, the prime ministerial candidate must be formally nominated by the coalition of parliamentary factions – a provision the President, as guarantor of the Constitution, is obliged to uphold.

That said, the recent actions of Zelenskyy’s administration cast doubt on adherence to constitutional norms. A recent example is the government’s outright refusal to appoint the winner of the official competition for head of the Bureau of Economic Security (BES), in clear defiance of the constitutional process.

In the context of the upcoming Cabinet reshuffle, another question looms: how many ministerial portfolios will be handed to individuals under investigation by Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO)?

Meantime, First Deputy Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko, whom President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has nominated to lead the Ukrainian government, announced that she will soon present her proposals for Cabinet appointments.

Svyrydenko shared the update in a Facebook post.

“I will announce proposals for Cabinet member candidates shortly,” Svyrydenko added.

“The decision to appoint the Prime Minister of Ukraine rests with the Verkhovna Rada. We are preparing to engage with Parliament and present the relevant steps for the government,” she wrote.

EMPR