Zelenskyy submits nominations for Ukraine's foreign, defense ministers

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday submitted to parliament nominations for Andrii Sybiha as foreign minister and Yevheniy Khmara as defense minister.

Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak said parliament will vote on the appointments Wednesday.

"Zelenskyy submitted a proposal for Khmara and Sybiha to parliament," he said on Telegram.

Khmara was appointed acting defense minister on July 17, while Sybiha has headed the Foreign Ministry since September 2024.

Khmara, a major general and career officer of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), has served in the agency's elite Alpha special operations unit since 2011.

He headed the SBU's Special Operations Center A from 2023 and had been serving as acting head of the SBU since January 2026.

His appointment came amid a major wartime government and military reshuffle in Ukraine, including the dismissal of former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, which sparked protests across the country.

Zelenskyy has acknowledged tensions between the Defense Ministry and General Staff, saying disagreements went beyond reported personal differences between Fedorov and Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi.