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Kuleba resigns as Ukraine's cabinet empties
Summary
A look back at 4 September 2024, when the foreign minister left office during a government reshuffle that had already opened many vacancies.
What does it mean when more than a third of a government's ministerial posts fall vacant within days? On 4 September 2024, Ukraine faced that question as Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign affairs minister, resigned amid a cabinet reshuffle.
His departure followed a wave of resignations the day before. On 3 September 2024, five Ukrainian ministers stepped down, among them Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna. That left over one-third of the cabinet vacant, and Kuleba's exit added to the turnover.
A foreign-policy backdrop
The foreign ministry's work was also in focus beyond Ukraine's borders. On 2 September 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Mongolia to discuss a China–Russia gas pipeline, which was meant to recoup Russian losses from Western sanctions. Ukraine and the European Union had urged Mongolia to arrest Putin under the warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.
The two developments were separate, and the reports from those days do not link them. Still, they marked a period in which Ukraine's diplomatic service was dealing with an international dispute over Putin's travel while the minister who led it was leaving his post.
What the reshuffle meant
By the end of 4 September 2024, the scale of the changes was clear: a deputy prime minister and the foreign minister were among those who had resigned, and a large share of ministerial posts stood empty. Filling them became the immediate task for the government.
