The President’s Office plans to dismiss Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal

The Office of the President of Ukraine is planning to dismiss Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and appoint Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko in his place.

This was reported by MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak from the “Holos” party in his Telegram channel, citing inside sources.

According to Zheleznyak, the decision has already been made, and Svyrydenko’s candidacy is being promoted by Presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak.

He wrote that small legislative amendments are expected to be introduced within the next one to two weeks to enable the personnel change. After that, Shmyhal is expected to voluntarily step down, and Svyrydenko would be appointed as his replacement.

Rumors of such a plan — orchestrated by Yermak to remove Shmyhal and replace him with Svyrydenko, who is considered close to him — have been circulating since June 2024. However, that effort reportedly failed at the time due to resistance from David Arakhamia, head of the ruling Servant of the People party faction and a major rival to Yermak in President Zelensky’s inner circle.

Now, according to sources quoted by Strana, a new attempt is being made.

“Yermak is continuing his effort to bring the entire power vertical under his control, and removing Shmyhal — who tries to balance different power groups — and replacing him with the fully loyal Svyrydenko is a key step. Publicly, the change in prime minister will be used to shift blame for Ukraine’s social and economic problems and corruption scandals onto Shmyhal, showing that Zelensky is responding and rebooting the government to make it more efficient,” said a source close to the President’s Office.

However, there are still forces resisting Shmyhal’s dismissal. These include, notably, David Arakhamia, and oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s wealthiest businessman, who is said to have developed close ties with Shmyhal.

Interestingly, last week Dmytro Razumkov, the former Speaker of Parliament and now an opposition figure, began collecting signatures for Shmyhal’s dismissal. In Parliament, two versions are circulating about this move:

1. Razumkov learned of the President’s Office’s plan to soon remove Shmyhal and decided to take the initiative to make it appear that the dismissal was due to his own efforts — thereby boosting his political clout.

2. Alternatively, those who oppose Shmyhal’s removal may have asked Razumkov to start collecting signatures in order to make it seem like the President’s Office is acting under pressure from the opposition — possibly causing them to pause or delay the process.