Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba resigns after Russian strikes kill 7 in Lviv

kyiv, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, one of the most recognizable faces on the international stage, resigned Wednesday ahead of an expected government reshuffle. Meanwhile, Russian strikes killed at least seven people in the Ukrainian city of Lviv near the Polish border, a day after one of the deadliest missile attacks since the war began.

Kuleba, 43, did not give a reason for his resignation. His resignation will be discussed by lawmakers at their next session, parliament speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said on his Facebook page. Four other cabinet ministers submitted their resignations on Tuesday evening, making the cabinet reshuffle the largest since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated last week that a reshuffle was imminent, with the war about to enter a critical stage and its 1,000-day mark approaching in November.

Zelensky needs to keep Ukraine’s morale high amid the grueling war of attrition with its largest neighbor and strengthen the country’s resolve for what will be another harsh winter. Russia has been destroying Ukraine’s power grid, knocking out about 70% of generating capacity and disrupting heating and water supplies.

The Ukrainian military’s risky but largely successful incursion nearly a month ago into Russia’s Kursk border region countered months of gloomy news from the front lines in eastern Ukraine.

Kursk, however, is not a priority for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who remains determined to continue advancing his military in eastern Ukraine. The Russian offensive in Donetsk, where Ukraine lacks troops and air defenses, and long-range missile attacks that repeatedly hit civilian areas in Ukraine indicate that Putin will remain unyielding and relentless in his efforts to crush Ukrainian resistance.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said late Tuesday that Putin believes Russia “can subsume Ukraine slowly and indefinitely through piecemeal advances and that Russia can achieve its objectives through a war of attrition against Ukrainian forces and by overcoming Western support” for kyiv.

Zelensky also has his eye on the US presidential election in November, which could bring a shift in key US military support for his country.

During the war, Kuleba has been second only to Zelensky in bringing Ukraine’s message and needs to an international audience, whether through social media posts or meetings with foreign dignitaries. In July, Kuleba became the highest-ranking Ukrainian official to visit China since the Russian invasion. He has served as foreign minister since March 2020.

Kuleba’s successor is not yet known, but is expected to be announced on Thursday. Several Ukrainian media outlets, citing unnamed sources, said Kuleba’s deputy, Andrii Sybiha, will become the country’s top diplomat.

The new foreign minister is likely to accompany Zelensky to the UN General Assembly in New York next week, providing an opportunity to lobby world leaders for their support.

More than half of the current cabinet will undergo changes, said Davyd Arakhamiia, the leader of Zelenskyy’s party in the Ukrainian parliament. Ministers will resign on Wednesday and new appointments will be made on Thursday, he said.

Zelensky’s five-year term expired in May. He remains in power under martial law.

Meanwhile, Russian strikes killed at least seven people and wounded 35 others in an overnight attack in Lviv, Mayor Andrii Sadovyi said. A child and a medical worker were among the dead and others were in critical condition, he added.

Lviv is about 60 kilometers (40 miles) from the border with Poland, a NATO and European Union member and a major supporter of Ukraine.

An overnight attack also wounded five people in Kryvyi Rih, Zelensky’s hometown, regional head Serhii Lysak said.

Kuleba said the attacks showed that Ukraine needs more Western support. “To end this terrorism, Ukraine’s partners must quickly deliver the promised air defense systems and ammunition, as well as strengthen Ukraine’s defense capabilities and allow us to launch long-range strikes against all legitimate military targets in Russia,” he wrote in X.

Zelensky reacted to the attacks by urging Ukraine’s allies to give kyiv “more scope” to use Western weapons to strike deeper into Russian territory.

The attack came a day after two ballistic missiles struck a military academy and a nearby hospital in Poltava in east-central Ukraine, killing 53 people and wounding nearly 300 others, Ukrainian officials said.

The missiles hit the heart of the main building of the Poltava Military Institute of Communications, causing several floors to collapse.

Poltava is about 350 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of kyiv, on the main highway and rail route between kyiv and Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, which is close to the border with Russia.

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Burrows reported from London.

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