Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy replaces PM and flags law enforcement overhaul
Yulia Svyrydenko stepped down on Sunday as Ukraine’s prime minister amid predictions she would become Kyiv’s ambassador to the US. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, said there would also be changes in the top ranks of law enforcement agencies.
Reuters reported that well-informed opposition lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak said Svyrydenko was likely to take up the post of ambassador to the US; while the new PM was most likely to be Serhiy Koretskyi, head of state energy company Naftogaz. Lawmakers said other possible successors included Svyrydenko’s predecessor, Denys Shmyhal, currently energy minister; or Mykhailo Fedorov, the defence minister.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine was “changing its political strategy” and he had offered Svyrydenko the opportunity to lead “a new, important area” in Ukraine’s relations with a key international partner. It comes after the Nato summit in Ankara where a thaw in relations with Donald Trump’s administration was evident, and the US president promised to give Ukraine a licence to build Patriot air defence missiles.
Over the past year, Ukraine has been shaken by its largest corruption scandal, which led to the resignation of the influential head of the presidential administration. Zelenskyy also triggered protests in 2025 when he moved to strip anti-corruption bodies of their independence. The president was forced to back down.
A Ukrainian attack hit the Syzran oil refinery in the Samara region of Russia’s south-west, Russian media said. Pictures showed plumes of black smoke rising over the site. Officials said one person was killed and the regional governor, Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, said a child was one of three injured. Ukraine denies targeting civilians.
Russia was forced to suspend shipping in the Sea of Azov after 90 vessels were targeted by Ukrainian drones in less than a week, Luke Harding writes from Kyiv. Ukraine’s drone forces chief, Robert Brovdi, said on Sunday that his units had hit 10 tankers and four ferries overnight, as well as a major oil refinery in the city of Syzran. There had been several strikes on electricity substations in occupied Crimea, he added.
Ukraine’s allies known as the “coalition of the willing” will be meeting in Paris on Monday for talks on pressuring Russia to end its more than four-year war. France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said in Ankara that he would use the summit to unveil new defence initiatives and joint military exercises. The meeting will also focus on tackling Russia’s shadow fleet, new military capabilities for Ukraine, greater mobilisation of defence industries and deeper operational cooperation among Kyiv’s backers, Macron said. Keir Starmer, Britain’s outgoing prime minister, is among those expected to be in Paris, as well as EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa. Two more countries, Moldova and North Macedonia, have joined the coalition, the Elysee said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the late US senator Lindsey Graham as “a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer”. Graham, 71, died on Saturday, reportedly from a massive heart attack. He had just returned from a trip to Ukraine and was a staunch supporter of its battle against Vladimir Putin’s invasion. David Smith writes that on Friday, Graham had announced an agreement with the Trump administration to move forward on a package of sanctions against Russia.
A wave of Russian drones and missiles killed four people, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday. Three died in attacks on Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region, including two in a strike on an “industrial enterprise” in the city of Kryvyi Rih, regional officials said. A separate drone attack on the southern city of Kherson killed a 48-year-old, said the mayor, Yaroslav Shanko. Ukrainian strikes on the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region meanwhile left four dead, Russian officials said.
