Page 12 - UKRRptJun21

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba believes that Ukraine's allies give a very gentle response to Russia's issuance of passports to residents of the occupied territories of Ukraine.
2.3 Ukraine’s parliament fills three vacant Cabinet positions
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine appointed on May 20 Viktor Lyashko as health minister (with 262 votes, out of 226 votes needed), Oleksandr Kubrakov as infrastructure minister (284 votes) and Oleksiy Lyubchenko as economy minister and first deputy PM (293 votes).
Recall, the Rada dismissed the economy and infrastructure ministers on their request, and dismissed the health minister on the request of the PM on May 18.
James Hydzik: As the three replacement candidates were selected by the presidential office and presented by the leaders of the parliamentary majority already last week, there were no surprises in the Rada’s voting.
In general, we see the replacements are good, at least from the reputational standpoint. However, the replacements won’t change anything in the policy of Shmyhal’s Cabinet as it will become even more dependent on the presidential office.
Lyashko is very familiar with the government’s pandemic response from his time as chief sanitary officer. His statement about making unpopular decisions is an attempt to set himself apart from now-former minister Maksym Stepanov, who was often criticized for what could be called an over-reliance on soft measures. Lyashko still needs to prove himself as decisive if and when the highly probable fourth wave of the pandemic emerges. Also, Lyashko will have to better organize the COVID-19 vaccination process and secure the better availability of the vaccines – a task that is definitely not in full correspondence with his profile as a good doctor.
Lyubchenko looks like a good technocrat who is familiar with the way government works (unlike his predecessor who came from business), so he definitely will be a more efficient economy minister.
Kubrakov earned his reputation as the leader of a massive road repairs project in 2020-2021, which is one of the most remarkable achievements of Zelensky’s presidency. However, his ability to run the entire infrastructure sector of Ukraine is not clear now.
2.4 Ukraine’s parliament fills three vacant Cabinet positions
Verkhovna Rada appointed Viktor Lyashko as health minister (with 262 votes, out of 226 votes needed), Oleksandr Kubrakov as infrastructure minister (284 votes) and Oleksiy Lyubchenko as economy minister and first deputy PM (293 votes) on May 20.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy reshuffled his government on May 20
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