KYIV, Ukraine (AP) 鈥� Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, one of Ukraine's most recognizable faces on the international stage, resigned Wednesday ahead of an expected reshuffling of government leaders. Russian strikes, meanwhile, killed seven people in a western city, a day after missile attacks since began.
Kuleba, 43, gave no reason for stepping down. Four other Cabinet ministers late Tuesday, likely making this reshuffle the biggest since Russia's invasion in February 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated last week that the reshuffling was imminent, with the war poised to enter a critical stage and to mark its 1,000th day in November.
He said Wednesday that Ukraine needs 鈥渘ew energy, and that includes in diplomacy.鈥� He said during a Kyiv news conference with visiting Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris that he could not announce any replacements yet because he did not know whether the candidates would accept his invitation to join the government.
Zelenskyy needs to keep up Ukraine鈥檚 morale amid the grinding war of attrition with its bigger neighbor and to steel the country鈥檚 resolve for what will be another hard winter. Russia has been , knocking out some 70% of generation capacity and rupturing heat and water supplies.
Wednesday's deadly attack on Lviv 鈥� a city near the border with NATO member Poland and far from the front lines 鈥� underscored how all of Ukraine is at the mercy of Moscow鈥檚 long-range capabilities.
The Ukrainian army鈥檚 risky almost a month ago into Russia鈥檚 Kursk border region raised Ukrainian spirits and countered months of grim news from the front line in eastern Ukraine. The incursion's ultimate goals are unclear, though Zelenskyy says Ukraine wants to create a buffer zone there that would prevent cross-border Russian attacks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin remains bent on pushing his army deeper into eastern Ukraine. The Kremlin's onslaught in Donetsk, where Ukraine is short of troops and air defenses, and long-range missile strikes that repeatedly hit civilian areas of Ukraine, signal that Putin will remain uncompromising and unrelenting in his efforts to crush Ukrainian resistance.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said late Tuesday that Putin believes Russia 鈥渃an slowly and indefinitely subsume Ukraine through grinding advances" and "by outlasting Western support鈥� for Kyiv.
Zelenskyy is also keeping in mind the U.S. presidential election in November, which could bring a shift in key U.S. military support for his country.
During the war, Kuleba has been second only to Zelenskyy in carrying Ukraine鈥檚 message and needs to an international audience, whether through social media posts or meetings with foreign dignitaries. In July, Kuleba became the highest-ranking Ukrainian official to visit China since Russia鈥檚 invasion. He has been foreign minister since March 2020.
Kuleba鈥檚 successor is not yet known but is expected to be announced Thursday. Several Ukrainian media outlets, citing unnamed sources, said Kuleba's deputy, Andrii Sybiha, would become the country's chief diplomat.
The new foreign minister will likely accompany Zelenskyy next week to the U.N. General Assembly in New York, which is an opportunity to lobby global leaders for their support.
Kuleba's resignation will be discussed by lawmakers at their next session, parliamentary Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said on his Facebook page.
More than half the current Cabinet will undergo changes, said Davyd Arakhamiia, a leader of Zelenskyy鈥檚 party in the parliament. Ministers will resign Wednesday, and new appointments will be made Thursday, he said.
Zelenskyy鈥檚 five-year mandate expired in May. He remains in power under the provisions of martial law.
Elsewhere, the nighttime strike on Lviv wounded 52 people as well as killing seven, Ukraine's rescue service said. The strike was carried out with a Kinzhal missile and drones and targeted defense industry enterprises, Russian news agency Tass said, citing the Russian Defense Ministry.
Local officials disputed the targeting claim. Lviv Mayor Andrii Sadovyi and the Ukrainian Catholic University published a photo of a family whose mother and three daughters were killed in the attack that struck their home. The father survived but was in critical condition, Sadovyi said.
The eldest daughter, 21-year-old Yaryna, was a program manager at the European Youth Forum, a platform of the continent鈥檚 youth organizations, her colleagues wrote on Facebook. 鈥淲e will neither forget nor forgive鈥� the attack, they said in the post.
Another Russian attack wounded five people in Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy鈥檚 hometown, regional head Serhii Lysak said.
Kuleba said the Lviv and Kryvyi Rih attacks showed Ukraine's need for more Western support.
鈥淭o put an end to this terror, Ukraine鈥檚 partners must promptly deliver the promised air defense systems and ammunition, as well as strengthen Ukraine鈥檚 defense capabilities and allow us to launch long-range strikes on all legitimate military targets in Russia,鈥� he wrote on X.
Zelenskyy reacted to the attacks by urging Ukraine's allies to give Kyiv 鈥渕ore range鈥� to use Western weapons to strike deeper into Russian territory.
The attack happened a day after two ballistic missiles blasted a military academy and nearby hospital in Poltava in eastern-central Ukraine, killing 53 people and wounding almost 300 others, Ukrainian officials said.
The missiles tore into the heart of the Poltava Military Institute of Communication鈥檚 main building, causing several stories to collapse.
Poltava is about 350 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Kyiv, on the main highway and rail route between Kyiv and Ukraine鈥檚 second-largest city, Kharkiv, which is close to the Russian border.
In other developments, the head of the United Nations鈥� nuclear watchdog agency, Rafael Grossi, visited the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine, a day after describing the situation at Europe鈥檚 largest atomic energy facility as
The International Atomic Energy Agency published a report Wednesday saying that since Grossi鈥檚 last visit there in February, the plant has been struck by drones, lost power lines and seen 鈥渟ignificant damage鈥� to one of its two cooling towers by fire.
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Burrows reported from London.
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Follow AP鈥檚 coverage of the war in Ukraine at
Illia Novikov And Emma Burrows, The Associated Press
