Six Ukrainian cabinet ministers have resigned from their portfolios as part of a major government shake-up, meaning a swag of senior plum jobs are up for grabs.
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00:00Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is changing half of his government, insisting
00:04that new energy is needed and that state institutions must be set up to achieve results.
00:09This is the biggest reshuffle since Russia's invasion in February 2022.
00:14Critics argue that there is not much new energy, given that most of the names are already known
00:19and served in different capacities.
00:21Without the possibility of having elections due to martial law, not much more can be done,
00:25says one MP.
00:27Well, it is important to understand that in Ukraine, cabinet ministers is basically the
00:33only governmental body that can be reshuffled during the time of war, during the martial
00:39state.
00:40We cannot have elections for parliament, we cannot have elections for president.
00:45But of course, we need new energy, we need new people, we need new approaches, at least
00:51in government.
00:52In October 2023, Ukraine was supposed to hold parliamentary elections and a presidential
00:56election in the spring of 2024.
00:59But with Russia's full-scale invasion, the voting was legally prohibited.
01:04Around 18% of the country's territory is currently occupied by Russia and millions have been
01:08forced to flee.
01:10We do expect organization of even new ministries due to the situation that we have so many
01:20people abroad and we have to have this better communication with them.
01:25So just the Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot do that.
01:28By the end of 2023, 4.9 million Ukrainians lived abroad because of Russia's invasion
01:33and half of them could not return to Ukraine.