Ukraine's foreign minister submitted his resignation on Wednesday, a day after five other cabinet members tendered their resignations ahead of an expected major government reshuffle by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that could see more than half of the country's ministries change hands.
Dmytro Kuleba, a 43-year-old fluent English speaker and one of the country's most recognisable faces on the international stage, didn't give a reason for stepping down, however Mr Zelenskyy had indicated last week that a reshuffle was imminent, with the war against Russia poised to enter a critical stage and its 1,000-day mark looms in November.
Mr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that Ukraine needs "new energy, and that includes in diplomacy", adding during a news conference with visiting Irish prime minister Simon Harris that he was waiting to hear from potential replacement candidates whether they would accept his invitation to join the government.
Several Ukrainian media outlets, citing unnamed sources, said Mr Kuleba's deputy, Andrii Sybiha, had been tapped for the job, and would likely accompany Mr Zelenskyy to the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week.
Analysts said the government reset had been planned for some time, but had been postponed while Mr Zelenskyy focused on talks with Kyiv's Western partners through the summer to secure military and financial aid, a process which would continue in New York.
"This is a planned personnel overhaul of the government," said Volodymyr Fesenko, a Kyiv-based political analyst.
"Now half of the government will be renewed. This is Zelenskyy's style. He believes that the new minister brings new energy, new approaches, works more actively. He expects exactly this effect."
Mr Zelenskyy's own five-year term as president expired in May. He remains in power under the provisions of martial law.
Russian drone attack on Lviv kills seven, injures 52
Meanwhile, at least seven people — including four members of the same family — were killed and 52 were injured in an overnight Russian drone attack on the western Ukraine city of Lviv, Internal Affairs Minister Igor Klymenko said on Wednesday.
The mayor of Lviv, which is close to Ukraine's border with NATO member Poland, said one man, Yaroslav Bazylevych, lost his wife and three young daughters when their home was struck.
"In the centre of Europe, Russia is eliminating Ukrainians by [killing] entire families. The Russians are killing our children, our future," mayor Andriy Sadovyi said.
Mr Bazylevych's daughters were seven, 18 and 21 years old, Mr Sadovyi said. Earlier, he had said three children had been killed in the attack.
The family's eldest daughter, 21-year-old Yaryna, was a program manager at the European Youth Forum, a platform of the continent's youth organisations, her colleagues wrote on Facebook.
"We will neither forget nor forgive" the attack, they said in the post.
Videos from the site showed emergency workers carrying out bodies from a damaged residential building as one woman pleaded for information about her daughter and granddaughters.
A video posted by Ukraine's state emergency service showed rescuers carrying out what appeared to be the body of a girl from under the rubble.
The attack came a day after the war's deadliest single attack so far this year, when Russia hit a military communications institute in the central Ukrainian city of Poltava with two ballistic missiles, killing 50 and wounding hundreds more.
Russia denies targeting civilians during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine which began more than 30 months ago, but says Ukrainian military, energy and transport infrastructure are legitimate military targets.
Mr Kuleba, the outgoing foreign minister said the attack, along with a different strike which injured five people in Kryvyi Rih, showed Ukraine's need for more support, and for Ukraine's Western allies to permit Kyiv to use Western weapons to strike deeper into Russian territory.
"To put an end to this terror, Ukraine's partners must promptly deliver the promised air defence systems and ammunition, as well as strengthen Ukraine's defence capabilities and allow us to launch long-range strikes on all legitimate military targets in Russia," he said.
Maria Zakharova, Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman, said the Kremlin's response to any long-range strikes from Ukraine would be "very painful".
Polish aircraft activated for third time in eight days
Lviv is located approximately 75 kilometres from Ukraine's border with Poland, a NATO member.
The latest attack provoked Polish and allied aircraft for the third time in eight days, the Operational Command of the Polish armed forces said.
"This is another very busy night for the entire air defence system in Poland due to the observed activity of the long-range aviation of the Russian Federation carrying out strikes," the Command said on X.
Poland also wants to ramp up its production of 155mm artillery rounds in the hope of ensuring sufficient supplies if Russia attacked a NATO country, a senior official said on Wednesday.
Some NATO officials say the Kremlin might be ready militarily to attack NATO countries in five to eight years' time, once it has rebuilt its forces after the war in Ukraine.
Moscow has regularly dismissed Western suggestions that it might consider an attack on NATO.
"Our ambition … is to have the ability to fill up Polish warehouses in parallel to achieving a full, independent capacity to produce ammunition in Poland, within five to eight years," Maciej Idzik, a board member of the state-owned Polish Armaments Group (PGZ), told the Reuters news agency.
Demand for 155mm artillery rounds has soared in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with NATO countries' supplies for their own defence being run down as they have rushed shells to Kyiv.
ABC/Wires
