Ukraine's Parliament Names Koretskyi PM Amid Protests

A government reshuffle in the middle of a war is rarely a purely domestic affair, and for Serbia, which watches its gas and electricity supply with particular care each winter, the message from Kyiv is unambiguous: energy has become the front line of defence. Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada confirmed Serhii Koretskyi, until now the chairman of state-owned Naftogaz, as the new prime minister with 289 votes, handing President Volodymyr Zelensky a cabinet built for what officials in Kyiv are already calling the hardest winter of the war.

Zelensky justified the choice precisely by citing Koretskyi’s record at the helm of Ukraine’s largest energy company, at a moment when Russian strikes are systematically targeting power plants, gas infrastructure and the distribution grid. Outgoing prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko resigned once the announced reshuffle ended her mandate, and the change at the top came bundled with a series of personnel moves that, as it turned out, opened the first visible crack in wartime cohesion.

Why did energy decide the choice of prime minister?

Putting a Naftogaz executive in charge of the government is not symbolic. Ukraine enters winter with damaged generating capacity and with imports that depend on European solidarity and the financial backing of Western partners. Koretskyi spent the past year negotiating supply contracts, gas storage and emergency repairs, so his appointment reads as a signal that the winter security of the energy system will be the new government’s main yardstick. For south-eastern Europe, Serbia included, that is no abstraction: every disruption in the Ukrainian market and every fresh strike on infrastructure spills over into prices and flows across the continent.

The political cost of the reshuffle surfaced immediately outside parliament. Hundreds of demonstrators took to the street to protest the dismissal of defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who had held the post for only six months. Public protest is a rare sight in a country under martial law, where gatherings are restricted and criticism of the authorities during the invasion has largely been muted. Banners of discontent in front of the Rada signal that even wartime discipline does not fully suspend domestic political dynamics.

What does the reshuffle mean for the course of the war?

As parliament voted, the reality of the war underscored the urgency of the new government’s energy focus. Russian ballistic missiles struck Kyiv around 1 a.m. local time, killing two people and wounding six, among them a 16-year-old. The same night, Russian forces hit infrastructure in Odesa and a civilian company near Kharkiv, part of a pattern of strikes that increasingly targets the economy and everyday life rather than the front alone.

A government reshuffle at such a moment carries a dual message. At home, it is meant to show that Kyiv is prioritising the survival of the energy system and the resilience of the civilian population. Abroad, toward Brussels and the Western capitals that finance Ukraine’s defence, it is an attempt to secure continuity of support through a technocratic, energy-focused cabinet. The open question is how much room the new prime minister will have between military needs, the energy crisis and now visible discontent among part of the public.

Do you think a government change in the middle of a war strengthens or weakens Ukraine’s position at the negotiating table, and how does that bear on the energy security of our region?