US Politics
Yulia Svyrydenko: Ukraine’s new prime minister who masterminded key Trump deal
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President Volodymyr Zelensky has named Yulia Svyrydenko as Ukraine’s new prime minister in the latest reshuffle of his cabinet.
Ms Svyrydenko, 39, has been serving as first deputy prime minister and economic development and trade minister since November 2021. She had been appointed to lead the revival of Ukraine’s struggling economy only months before Russia invaded in February 2022 and made her task more difficult.
Ms Svyrydenko took over as prime minister from Denys Shmyhal on Thursday after her appointment was confirmed and voted through by the Ukrainian parliament. The outgoing prime minister Shymhal will take over as Ukraine’s defence minister in his new role.
“War leaves no room for delay,” she said on X after accepting her new role as the war-time prime minister. “We must act swiftly and decisively. Our priorities for the first six months are clear: reliable supply for the army, expansion of domestic weapons production, and boosting the technological strength of our defence forces,” she said.
Mr Zelensky had met with Ms Svyrydenko earlier this week on Monday and discussed the “implementation of agreements with European and American partners regarding support for Ukraine reached during the recent Ukraine Recovery Conference”.
Mr Zelensky is reshuffling his cabinet at a time when Ukraine is seeking to revive its cash-strapped economy and boost its arms industry.
Ms Svyrydenko came to global attention earlier this year when she brokered a minerals deal with the US, fulfilling a crucial demand that the Donald Trump administration had set to help Kyiv negotiate with Russia. The deal helped repair damaged ties between Mr Zelensky and the Trump administration.
She underlined that Kyiv needed the US as a strategic partner in the war and worked with the Trump administration to get the deal done.
She led a Ukrainian delegation to Washington where she signed the deal, called the United States-Ukraine Reinvestment Fund, on 30 April with treasury secretary Scott Bessent.
The deal gives the US preferential access to Ukraine’s critical minerals and other natural resources. It also establishes a reconstruction investment fund to which Ukraine is expected to contribute 50 per cent of all future profits from natural resources.
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Initial versions of the deal presented by Mr Trump’s negotiators required Ukraine to pay back the aid the US had given it over the course of the war. The eventual deal, according to Mr Shmyhal, made no such demand.
“Another milestone on the path to launching the United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund: Ukraine has completed all necessary procedures on schedule,” Ms Svyrydenko said after the deal was signed.
The deal helped thaw relations between Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky which had collapsed after they engaged in a shouting match at the White House where US vice president JD Vance also joined in.
The agreement, which sought to balance Washington’s demands with Kyiv’s control over its natural resources, especially rare earths, and infrastructure, was hailed as a win for Ukraine.
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“This agreement is a win-win and it is written in friendly language. It is about investments, investments and investments,” Taras Kachka, Ukraine’s deputy minister for economic development, trade and agriculture, said at the time.
Ms Svyrydenko also led the 4th Ukraine Recovery Conference that concluded in Rome last week, securing agreements on economic and development projects worth at least €11bn.
After meeting with Mr Zelensky on Monday, Ms Svyrydenko said she would pursue deregulation, cut back bureaucracy, protect businesses and reduce non-critical expenditure to achieve the “full concentration of state resources” for defence and post-war recovery.
“The state apparatus has no right to waste the resources and potential of our country,” she said. “Ukraine deserves to be among the strongest economies in Europe.”
