Vladimir Zelensky said he met Denis Shmygal and offered him the position of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy of Ukraine. The politician wrote about this on his Telegram channel.
Zelensky also said he discussed Shmygal's candidacy with Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko.
Previously, it was reported that the new Minister of Defense of Ukraine will be Minister of Digital Transformation, Mikhail Fedorov. Zelensky changed defense ministers in the summer of 2025: he then appointed Denis Shmygal, who was previously the country's prime minister, as head of the ministry. Shmygal replaced Rustem Umerov as head of the Ministry of Defense, who now heads the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), as well as the Ukrainian delegation at the peace talks.
Also on January 2, Zelensky invited the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense, Kirill Budanov, to head his office in place of Andrei Ermak, who was dismissed amid a corruption scandal. The head of Ukraine's intelligence service agreed to take on the position, saying it was an honor and responsibility for him “at a historic moment for Ukraine” to address strategic security issues.
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Zelensky then announced that Budanov's successor as head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic would be Oleg Ivashchenko. Before that, he headed the country's Foreign Intelligence Service.
