WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A reshuffling of Ukraine’s government and diplomatic corps could improve communication with the United States just as President Donald Trump appears to be pivoting toward the embattled country in its more than three-year war with Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on July 14 announced that 39-year-old Yulia Svyrydenko, the economy minister and first deputy prime minister who led talks with the United States on a critical minerals deal, would replace Denys Shmyhal as prime minister.
Meanwhile, outgoing Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, 43, has been tapped to be the country’s next ambassador to Washington, another sign of Zelenskyy's push to boost the flow of communication with the White House.
The departures of Shmyhal, Ukraine’s longest-serving prime minister, and of Ambassador Oksana Markarova had been anticipated.
Markarova, a financier and respected diplomat, had angered Trump and members of his Republican Party after she took part in organizing Zelenskyy’s visit to an arms plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania just two months before the US presidential election in November 2024.
Zelenskyy was accompanied by Democratic lawmakers to the plant, which is located in the hometown of then-incumbent President Joe Biden.
Speaker Mike Johnson (Republican-Louisiana) had called for Ukraine to fire Markarova, accusing her of interfering in the election. Pennsylvania was a crucial swing state in the election, in which Trump defeated Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
That was one of a series of events going back to 2019, including an impeachment trial triggered by a phone call with Zelenskyy in July of that year, that had soured Trump on Ukraine. Trump discussed Markarova’s departure with Zelenskyy during their most recent phone conversation, on July 4.
“In terms of relations with the US, the replacement of the ambassador is the most important thing. She was associated with the arrangement of the visit to the arms factory” and a lightning rod for Trump supporters, Mikhail Alexseev, a political scientist at San Diego State University, told RFE/RL.
Markarova’s dismissal comes six months into Trump’s term. Alexseev said replacing Markarova soon after Trump’s victory in the election would have made for bad optics.
Markarova’s term in Washington would likely have come to an end soon regardless of the arms plant visit. She had been ambassador for more than four years, and no Ukrainian ambassador to the United States has served more than five years.
Minerals Deal
Svyrydenko, an economist appointed as economic development and trade minister and first deputy prime minister in 2021, played a lead role in negotiations with the United States over a deal granting US companies access to Ukraine’s valuable minerals and rare earths.
Trump made the deal a cornerstone of his policy toward Ukraine, saying the United States needed to be reimbursed for its aid to the country, which has totaled about $175 billion since the Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Svyrydenko flew to Washington in April to sign an agreement with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that sets up the US-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund. Under the agreement, the United States has the right to share in the profits from new Ukrainian minerals and energy projects.
Trump touted the agreement as ensuring US interests in Ukraine’s defense and reconstruction.
Svyrydenko returned to Washington last month as part of a high-level delegation to discuss defense needs and reconstruction. She reportedly presented some mineral projects that would fall under the deal. As prime minister, she will oversee the process.
“For the Americans, Svyrydenko is someone that they can work with. Bessent knows her now, as do others in the administration,” Andy Hunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Kyiv, told RFE/RL.
The United States and Ukraine negotiated for months on the minerals deal.
Hunder said Svyrydenko has shown herself to be a good communicator and her experience hammering out the minerals deal sets her up well for one of her main tasks: working with the United States.
Her appointment comes just as Trump appears to be pivoting toward Ukraine as he seeks to end the biggest war in Europe since World War II.
Trump this week announced he would be selling weapons to NATO for further transfer to Ukraine -- his biggest show of support for the country since taking office in January -- following failed peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Supporting Flow Of Military Aid
As ambassador to Washington, Umerov’s task would be to convince the Trump administration to continue supporting Ukraine through arms sales, aid, and investment in the defense industry. A successful businessmen who moved into politics, Umerov was appointed defense minister in September 2023.
“Ukraine’s military needs are going to be among the main talking points between the US government and Ukraine. So having someone in Washington that can speak in depth on those issues is going to be very helpful,” said Nick Piazza, a US investment banker active in Ukraine for the past quarter century and whose foundation advocates for the country.
Alexseev said that Umerov, as a former businessman, will also understand Trump’s transactional approach to diplomacy. Umerov must formally be approved by the Trump administration before he can take up his post as ambassador.
Umerov headed the Ukrainian delegation that held two rounds of peace talks with Russia in Istanbul on May 16 and June 2. The two sides agreed to prisoner swaps but made no apparent progress toward ending the war.
Shmyhal is set to become defense minister in the reshuffle.
