Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Sergii Koretskyi, the head of Ukraine’s state energy company Naftogaz, is the best candidate to serve as the next prime minister, and has controversially replaced his defense minister, as the country undergoes its second cabinet reshuffle in a year.

“The priorities are clear – preparing for winter,” Zelenskyy said on Wednesday as Kyiv braces for another season of expected Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid. “Therefore, following ⁠all the consultations, Sergii Koretskyi is surely the ⁠most prepared candidate for the post of prime minister of Ukraine.”

If selected by parliament, which is responsible for naming the prime minister, Koretskyi would succeed Yulia Svyrydenko, whom Zelenskyy pushed out after just a year on the job.

Parliament accepted Svyrydenko’s resignation as prime minister ⁠on Tuesday and is expected to vote on her replacement on Thursday. The chamber is likely to go with Zelenskyy’s preferred candidate because his party controls a majority of the seats in parliament.

Controversy over defense minister

A prime minister’s resignation automatically triggers the resignation of the entire cabinet, meaning a wider shake-up is expected.

Particular attention has focused on the fate of Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov at a time when the tide on ⁠the battlefield has been shifting in Ukraine’s ⁠favor as it presses a campaign of long-range drone attacks on Russia.

Fedorov, 35, promoter of technological innovations who comes from outside the Ministry of Defense establishment and took charge ‌there six months ago, announced his resignation on Wednesday.

Members of parliament, posting on social media after a meeting with the president, said he would appoint Ihor Klymenko, interior minister since 2023, to take on the defense portfolio.

Some lawmakers expressed dismay at Zelenskyy’s decision to replace Fedorov as defense minister just as Ukraine appears to be putting fresh pressure on Russia by long-range drone strikes on energy targets and by slowing its ‌battlefield advances.

Oleksandr ⁠Merezhko, the chair of parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and member of Zelenskyy’s party, expressed disappointment at the prospect of Fedorov being replaced.

“Fedorov… is highly respected amongst our international partners,” he said on social media. “His name was associated with hopes for genuine reforms within the Ministry of Defense.”

Maria Berlinska, a prominent volunteer and drone warfare advocate, said Fedorov’s replacement was “one of President Zelenskyy’s biggest mistakes.“

“This decision by the president will not only cost us, it will cost us hugely. The price will be the lives and health of hundreds of thousands of people … if not more.”

Zelenskyy has offered little explanation for the latest shake-up, saying only that Ukraine is pursuing a new “political strategy” that requires new appointments, including in government and law enforcement.

He said the new political strategy would focus on key foreign policy priorities, including agreements to manufacture Patriot air defense systems under licence, advancing Ukraine’s bid for European Union membership and deepening ties with the Gulf region, which he described as one of the world’s “most promising” areas for security and economic cooperation.

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