Ukrainian lawmakers vote to dismiss multiple high-level officials amid mass resignation

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) — Ukraine's parliament on Wednesday voted to remove multiple officials from their posts amid a mass resignation a day earlier, marking the largest government reshuffle since the start of the country's war with Russia.

Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak said on Telegram that the Verkhovna Rada approved the resignations of Strategic Industries Minister Oleksandr Kamyshin, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna, Environment Protection and Natural Resources Minister Ruslan Strilets, and Justice Minister Denys Maliuska.

Zheleznyak said that 243 votes were cast to approve Kamyshin's resignation, while 241, 244 and 249 lawmakers voted in favor of removing Stefanishyna, Strilets and Maliuska ​​from their posts, respectively.

He further added that parliament did not approve the resignations of Vitaliy Koval, head of Ukraine's State Property Fund, and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk, because an absolute majority of 226 votes could not be reached.

The vote for a resignation request by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was "urgently postponed," Zheleznyak also said.

On Tuesday, Verkhovna Rada speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk announced that he received resignation letters from multiple Ukrainian ministers for reasons that have yet to be determined, as Kyiv undertakes the biggest government reshuffle since the war began on Feb. 24, 2022.

Earlier on Wednesday, Stefanchuk also declared that he received a resignation letter by Kuleba, which he said would be considered during an upcoming plenary session.