Ukrainian lawmakers on Thursday confirmed Andrii Sybiha as the country's new foreign minister, amid a major reshuffle that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy deems necessary before an “extremely important” fall.
Sybiha was nominated by Zelenskyy as a successor to the outgoing Dmytro Kuleba, who has led Kiev's diplomatic efforts since 2020 and became a key figure in Ukraine's response to the large-scale Russian invasion from February 2022.
David Arakhamia, leader of Zelensky's Servant of the People party in the Ukrainian parliament, said via Telegram on Wednesday that Sybiha was eligible for the position.
Sybiha was confirmed in a parliamentary vote, two lawmakers 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 came from a total of 315 lawmakers present.
Sybiha, 49, served as Ukraine's top envoy to Turkey from 2016 to 2021 and worked twice at the Kiev embassy in Poland.
Sybiha joined the presidential office in 2021, working under influential government leader Andriy Yermak. He was appointed the country's first deputy foreign minister earlier this year.
“He is a well-known, experienced diplomat with tremendous experience,” Oleksandr Merezhko, a member of parliament for Zelensky's party and chairman of that body's foreign affairs committee, told ABC News shortly before the vote on the nomination.
“Since the first days of the large-scale invasion, Sybiha has been with the president, has been involved in all major negotiations and has earned the president's trust and respect, thanks to his professionalism.” Such proximity to Zelenskyy can help avoid 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 who is willing to make difficult decisions. “He is not afraid to be unpopular,” Merezhko added.
Ukrainian lawmaker Bohan Yaremenko, who also serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee, told ABC News that the new minister is “strong, experienced and professional.”
Sybiha is “very different” from his predecessor, Yaremenko said. He is much less prominent in public.
“He spent two years next to the president, so he knows more than anyone else about the latest negotiations with all major partners,” Yaremenko said
Zelenskyy said in a statement on Wednesday that the country “needs new energy and these new steps are related to strengthening our state in different directions.”
“The fall 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 that we need — for all of us.”
Ukraine picks 'intellectual' Andrii Sybiha as foreign minister in Zelenskyy reshuffle originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
