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as part of his ongoing campaign to improve his ratings in the polls were he has been losing ground and a renewed drive to restart the reform programme with an emphasis on “de-oligarchization.”
Those dismissed were Health Minister Maksym Stepanov, Economy, Trade and Agriculture Minister Ihor Petrashko, and Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Krykliy.
The Rada dismissed the economy and infrastructure ministers on their request, and dismissed the health minister against his wishes and at the request of the Prime Minister on May 18.
“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,” James Hydzik of Concorde Capital said in a note.
“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,” Hydzik added.
Stepanov was the most controversial figure in the cabinet, who was appointed a year ago and oversaw Ukraine’s fight against the pandemic. He has been roundly criticised for not doing a very good job as infection rates soared and Ukraine struggled to secure supplies of the life-saving vaccines. Zelenskiy has fired three health ministers since taking power in April 2019.
The latest reshuffle follows on from a big Ukraine reshuffle last March when Zelenskiy fired the technocratic reform orientated government, raising eyebrows at the time as the move was seen as favouring the oligarchs and to the detriment of the reform programme.
The new health minister Lyashko is well known and seen to be competent. He is very familiar with the government’s pandemic response from his time as chief sanitary officer. He made a statement about making unpopular decisions during the session where he was appointed in an attempt to set himself apart from Stepanov.
“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,” Hydzik said.
Analysts say the other two appointments are also competent technocrats and welcomed their appointments. Lubchenko was the head of the State Tax Service of Ukraine. Kubrakov earned his reputation as the head of Ukraine’s state road agency Ukravtodor.
“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,” said Hydzik.
Kubrakov oversaw a massive road repairs project in 2020-2021, which Hydzik
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