Ukraine taps ‘intellectual’ Andrii Sybiha as foreign minister in Zelenskyy reshuffle

(LONDON) — Ukrainian lawmakers confirmed Andrii Sybiha as the country’s new foreign minister on Thursday, amid a major reshuffle that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says is needed ahead of an “extremely important” fall.

Sybiha was nominated by Zelenskyy to replace the outgoing Dmytro Kuleba, who led Kyiv’s diplomatic efforts since 2020 and became a key figure in Ukraine’s response to Russia’s full-scale invasion from February 2022.

David Arakhamia — the leader of Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People Party in the Ukrainian parliament — said on Telegram on Wednesday that Sybiha was in line for the position.

Sybiha was confirmed in a parliamentary vote, two members of parliament confirmed to ABC News. He won the support of 258 of 401 lawmakers and was sworn in during the parliamentary session shortly after the vote. The 258 votes were out of a total of 315 lawmakers present.

Sybiha, 49, was Ukraine’s senior envoy to Turkey from 2016 to 2021, and served two stints at Kyiv’s embassy in Poland.

Sybiha joined the presidential office in 2021, working under influential administration head Andriy Yermak. He was appointed the country’s first deputy foreign minister earlier this year.

“He is a well-known, experienced diplomat with vast experience,” Oleksandr Merezhko — a member of parliament representing Zelenskyy’s party and the chair of the body’s foreign affairs committee — told ABC News shortly before the confirmation vote.

“Since the first days of the full-scale invasion, Sybiha was with the president, was involved in all important negotiations and — due to his professionalism — has earned the trust and respect of the president,” Merezhko said. 

Such proximity to Zelenskyy may help avoid any tensions between the presidency and the foreign ministry.

Sybiha is known as a “thinker” and an “intellectual” among those who have worked closely with him, Merezhko said, and as someone willing to make hard decisions. 

“He is not afraid to be unpopular,” Merezhko added.

Ukrainian lawmaker Bohan Yaremenko — also a member of the foreign affairs committee — told ABC News the new minister is “tough, experienced, professional.”

Sybiha is “very different” to his predecessor, Yaremenko said, with a far smaller public profile.

“He spent two years next to the president, so he knows more than anyone else about the most recent negotiations with all important partners,” Yaremenko said.

Zelenskyy said in a Wednesday statement that the country needs “need new energy and these new steps are connected to strengthening our state in different directions.”

“Autumn will be extremely important for Ukraine,” he added. “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.”