Zelenskyy begins major shake-up as Ukraine’s foreign minister heads for exit

KYIV — Ukraine’s outspoken Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba submitted his resignation on Wednesday, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy started a reshuffle of his top team.
“Parliament will consider his resignation during one of the upcoming meetings,” said Ruslan Stefanchuk, speaker of the Ukrainian parliament.
Kuleba is the latest — and most senior — in a series of Ukrainian wartime ministers and top officials who have filed for resignation since yesterday evening.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister on European Integration Olga Stefanishyna, Justice Minister Denys Malyuska, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, Strategic Industries Minister Oleksandr Kamyshin, Ecology Minister Ruslan Strilets and State Property Fund Head Vasyl Koval all filed their resignations in the last 24 hours.
They did not publicly explain their decisions, but Zelenskyy announced Tuesday night that a government reshuffle was coming.
“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. 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 president’s office,” Zelenskyy said in an evening statement.
David Arakhamia, head of Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party in the Ukrainian parliament, added, “As promised, a major reboot of the government can already be expected this week. More than 50 percent of the staff of the Cabinet of Ministers will change.”
Today will be a day of firings and tomorrow a day of appointments, Arakhamia added. 
Another top lawmaker praised Kuleba’s contribution.
“Today we supported Kuleba’s request for resignation. As the head of the committee, I am satisfied with our cooperation with Kuleba. You could always count on him. In general, I consider him one of the best ministers of foreign affairs in the history of Ukraine. I don’t know why he resigned, but I respect his decision. He proved his efficiency and high professionalism as a minister,” Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the foreign relations committee in the Ukrainian parliament, told POLITICO.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said Kuleba “set a very high benchmark not only for his successor, but for any foreign minister in any country. It was an honour to defend Ukraine and Europe with him, and I wish him every success in the future.”
Kuleba’s German counterpart Annalena Baerbock added, “all the best from the botton of my heart — we shall meet again when peace and freedom finally has returned to all of Ukraine.”
This story has been updated.