Kuleba’s resignation was posted on the Facebook page of Ruslan Stefanchuk, the speaker of Ukraine’s parliament, along with resignations of at least five other officials. Stefanchuk said the exits would be considered at an upcoming plenary session of the parliament.
The departures make up more than half of Zelensky’s Cabinet, with those leaving making way for new officials to be appointed on Thursday.
“Our state institutions must be set up in such a way that Ukraine will achieve all the results we need for all of us,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address on Tuesday. “To do this, we need to strengthen some areas in the government, and personnel decisions have been prepared. There will also be changes in the office.”
The resignations come as Kyiv is pushing for the U.S. to withdraw a ban on using long-range missiles to strike deep inside Russian territory. It also follows a bold incursion by Ukraine into Russian territory last month. Ukraine now holds nearly 450 square miles of territory in Russia.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin — who last week met with Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov at the Pentagon to hear Kyiv’s reasoning for hitting father away Russian targets — will be in Germany tomorrow for a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.
“We’ll be very focused on again better understanding Ukraine’s security assistance needs and how best to meet those,” Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Tuesday. “As it relates to our long-range strike policy, I don’t have any announcements to make in terms of any change in policy.”
Moscow has increased the pace of its missile attacks across Ukraine, with Tuesday strikes against a military academy and other targets in Poltava killing 51 people and injuring hundreds. Russia has unleashed hundreds of missiles across Ukraine in the past few days, hitting the far-western city of Lviv and energy and water infrastructure.
“Autumn will be extremely important for Ukraine. And our state institutions must be set up in such a way that Ukraine will achieve all the results we need — for all of us,” Zelensky said.
Kuleba was a key Ukrainian official on the international stage pushing for Western allies supporting Ukraine to increase their pledges of assistance.
Speaking to CNN on Tuesday, Kuleba called for partner countries to send air defense systems to combat Russia’s ballistic missiles.
Read more at TheHill.com.
