Ukraine’s foreign minister resigns amid government shake-up

KYIV — Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has submitted his resignation, the country’s parliamentary speaker announced Wednesday, marking the latest major change in Kyiv’s leadership amid a larger government shake-up.

Kuleba, who has served as foreign minister since 2020, has been a key voice in Ukraine’s drive to receive foreign weapons from allies and to push partners to loosen restrictions on how those weapons are used.

Last spring, he led a push to find Patriot air defense batteries that were sitting unused in foreign countries and try to get them moved to Ukraine — speaking bluntly to express the dangers of delays in such deliveries.

Ruslan Stefanchuk, speaker of Ukraine’s parliament, posted a photo of a handwritten letter dated Sept. 4 in which Kuleba asked lawmakers “to accept my resignation from the post of the minister of foreign affairs of Ukraine.”

The day before, several other high-ranking Ukrainian officials also submitted their resignations, including arms chief Oleksandr Kamyshin, Justice Minister Denys Maliuska and Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna, who has overseen Ukraine’s push to join the European Union. Some officials who resigned this week are expected to take up new posts in the coming days.