Ukraine's Parliament Approves New Government, Leaving Foreign and Defense Minister Posts for Later
On July 16, Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada approved a new Cabinet of Ministers headed by Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky, but the appointments of foreign and defense ministers were postponed.
The Ukrainian parliament voted on Thursday, July 16, to approve the composition of the new government. The vote was 264 in favor. Before the vote, the candidates were presented by Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky.
The new government includes the following ministers:
- Denys Shmyhal – First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Energy;
- Tetiana Berezhna – Vice Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy and Minister of Culture;
- Vsevolod Chentsov – Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration;
- Vitalii Bezghin – Minister of Communities, Territories, and Internally Displaced Persons;
- Matvii Bidnyi – Minister of Youth and Sports;
- Andrii Butenko – Minister of Education and Science;
- Ivan Vyhivskyi – Minister of Internal Affairs;
- Taras Vysotskyi – Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food;
- Mykola Kalashnikov – Minister of Restoration, Infrastructure, and Transport;
- Vitalii Kim – Minister of Veterans Affairs;
- Oleksandr Kravchenko – Minister of Economy and Environment;
- Viktor Liashko – Minister of Health;
- Serhii Marchenko – Minister of Finance;
- Denys Maslov – Minister of Justice;
- Denys Ulutin – Minister of Social Policy, Family, and Unity;
- Oksana Ferchuk – Minister of Digital Transformation.
The positions of foreign and defense ministers were not considered, as these candidates are submitted by the president according to procedure. Parliament will review them separately later.
It should be recalled that on July 16, the Rada appointed Koretsky as prime minister. The dismissal of former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov led to protests near the President's Office.
