Yulia Svyrydenko stepped down on Sunday as Ukraine’s prime minister amid widespread predictions that she will become Kyiv’s next ambassador to the United States. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the change as part of a broader reshuffle that will also affect the top ranks of law enforcement agencies.
Succession and Political Strategy
According to Reuters, well-informed opposition lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak tipped Svyrydenko to take up the post of ambassador to the US. The most likely candidate to replace her as prime minister is Serhiy Koretskyi, head of state energy company Naftogaz. Other possible successors include Svyrydenko’s predecessor, Denys Shmyhal, currently energy minister, and Mykhailo Fedorov, the defence minister.
Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine is “changing its political strategy” and that he had offered Svyrydenko the opportunity to lead “a new, important area” in Ukraine’s relations with a key international partner. This development follows the Nato summit in Ankara, where a thaw in relations with the Trump administration was evident, and the US president promised to give Ukraine a licence to build Patriot air defence missiles.
Corruption Scandals and Law Enforcement Overhaul
Over the past year, Ukraine has been shaken by its largest corruption scandal, which led to the resignation of the influential head of the presidential administration. Zelenskyy also triggered protests in 2025 when he moved to strip anti-corruption bodies of their independence, but was forced to back down. The announced law enforcement overhaul is seen as part of efforts to address these issues.
Drone Attacks on Russian Soil
Drone attacks killed three people and wounded five in the Moscow region on Monday, the governor said, as Ukraine continues to target Russian oil and gas facilities and military-related factories. “In the settlement of Pionersky in Istra, three people were killed and three more wounded as a result of a drone falling,” Andrey Vorobyov said. Two more people were wounded in another part of the region, and air defences shot down 81 drones over the region.
Ukrainian drones on Monday morning blew up an oil depot in Mikhailovsk city in Russia’s Stavropol region, according to social media channels from both Russia and Ukraine. “An enemy drone attack is being repelled in the vicinity of Stavropol,” regional governor Vladimir Vladimirov posted online. Earlier, a Ukrainian attack hit the Syzran oil refinery in the Samara region, with pictures showing plumes of black smoke rising over the site. Officials said one person was killed and a child was among three injured. Ukraine denies targeting civilians.
Shipping Suspended in Sea of Azov
Russia was forced to suspend shipping in the Sea of Azov after 90 vessels were targeted by Ukrainian drones in less than a week. Ukraine’s drone forces chief, Robert Brovdi, said on Sunday that his units had hit 10 tankers and four ferries overnight, as well as a major oil refinery in Syzran. He added that there had been several strikes on electricity substations in occupied Crimea.
International Talks in Paris
Ukraine’s allies, known as the “coalition of the willing,” met in Paris on Monday for talks on pressuring Russia to end its more than four-year war. France’s President Emmanuel Macron said in Ankara that he would use the summit to unveil new defence initiatives and joint military exercises. The meeting will also focus on tackling Russia’s shadow fleet, new military capabilities for Ukraine, greater mobilisation of defence industries, and deeper operational cooperation among Kyiv’s backers.
Britain’s outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa were among those expected in Paris. Two more countries, Moldova and North Macedonia, have joined the coalition, the Elysee said. A French presidency official said the focus would be anti-ballistic-missile cooperation, ranging from sourcing more US Patriot interceptors and advancing the Franco-Italian SAMP-T air defence system to developing alternatives by European and Ukrainian defence industries. One option under consideration was for different European nations to cooperate on a system that would complement SAMP-T and/or Patriot and give Ukraine a significant role in production.
Tributes and Continued Attacks
Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the late US Senator Lindsey Graham as “a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer.” Graham, 71, died on Saturday, reportedly from a massive heart attack. He had just returned from a trip to Ukraine and was a staunch supporter of its battle against Vladimir Putin’s invasion. On Friday, Graham had announced an agreement with the Trump administration to move forward on a package of sanctions against Russia.
Russian drones attacked Odesa on Sunday evening, Ukrainian regional officials said. Earlier, a wave of Russian drones and missiles killed four people, including three in attacks on Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region—two in a strike on an industrial enterprise in Kryvyi Rih—and one in a drone attack on Kherson. Ukrainian strikes on the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region left four dead, Russian officials said.
