Ukrainian Parliament planned government reshuffle for 7 July but postponed it for several reasons

The Ukrainian Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, had intended to change the government on 7 July, but this will most likely happen later for a number of reasons, one of which is that there are not enough MPs in the country to make the decision.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda article

Quote from a senior official in the president’s team: "The original idea was to announce an extraordinary session of the Rada on 7 or 8 July, dismiss everyone there, and immediately appoint new members. But that didn’t work out, and some of the momentum has been lost."

Details: Ukrainska Pravda has information that there are several reasons why the date of the vote has been postponed.

The first is the absence of lawmakers in the number required for decision-making in Ukraine. Since there are usually many different kinds of summits and other events in the summer months, MPs often arrange their holidays around these work trips so that they can spend time with their families abroad or take some time off.

In order to ensure the vote would not fail, it has been decided to wait.

"Everyone will vote, but it will be around 15 July, when the scheduled plenary week will take place," a source in the Servant of the People party told UP.

The second reason for holding off on replacing the prime minister is the Ukraine Recovery Conference, which is due to take place in Rome on 10-11 July. As one member of the government put it, bringing an entire delegation there in an acting capacity would be like "spitting in the face" of Ukraine’s Italian partners.

The third reason is that there are still no candidates to head some ministries.

One of these is the long-suffering Ministry of National Unity, which was created in the winter of 2024 to provide employment for Oleksii Chernyshov in the government and try to engage with Ukrainians abroad in case there are elections.

"The potential for working with Ukrainians outside the country is actually enormous," the article says. "But the authorities' interest in this topic has waned somewhat: there are no quick elections on the horizon, and support abroad, to put it mildly, does not meet the expectations of Bankova Street [where the President’s Office is located – ed.]."

The author of the article suggests that it will be quite difficult to find anyone willing to risk their reputation and head the Ministry of National Unity after the corruption scandal involving Chernyshov. He thinks there is a high probability that the ministry will "simply be merged with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or something else".

Background: In July 2024, it was reported that Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal could potentially be replaced by Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister.

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