President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine said Monday that he would seek to replace the country’s prime minister, a major government shake-up that comes amid battlefield setbacks and a souring mood in the country.

Zelenskyy said in a post on Facebook that he would nominate Yulia Svyrydenko, who is now serving as a first deputy prime minister and had played a prominent role in negotiating a natural resources deal with the Trump administration. She would replace Denys Shmyhal, who has held the position since 2020 and was in office when Russia invaded.

The move, which would be the highest-level government shuffle since Russia’s invasion more than three years ago, needs to be approved by a vote of parliament, where Zelenskyy’s party has a majority.

Zelenskyy said in the post that he wanted to “renew” the country’s government. The announcement followed months of escalating Russian drone and missile attacks on cities and setbacks on the battlefield, and as ceasefire talks pushed by the Trump administration have stalled.

Change in tone

Recent polls suggest growing pessimism in Ukraine about the war with Russia, a shift from earlier in the conflict, when most Ukrainians voiced optimism that their country would prevail.

Zelenskyy’s political opponents questioned whether replacing the prime minister with a deputy actually constituted change, saying that the move was instead intended to install a loyalist and further consolidate the power of the president, already sweeping under martial law.

Accusations have been mounting in Ukraine that Zelenskyy is abusing the martial law authority that was granted on the first day of the Russian invasion and has been in effect since, and intensified after some elected mayors were replaced with military administrators.

Agreement with U.S.

Svyrydenko had overseen talks with the Trump administration on the contentious agreement to share profits with the United States from Ukrainian natural resources. President Donald Trump had demanded the agreement as a condition of further military cooperation.

Zelenskyy said in announcing Svyrydenko’s nomination that he had discussed plans with her to expand domestic arms production — a priority for Ukraine’s war effort — and efforts to strengthen the country’s social safety net, which has become frayed during the war.

Ukraine’s Constitution gives the prime minister wide powers on domestic policy. Under previous presidents, prime ministers had wielded the power independently, often at odds with the presidents they served but protected from dismissal by backing in parliament.

But Zelenskyy’s political party, Servant of the People, holds a majority in parliament and has twice approved prime ministers aligned with Zelenskyy. Parliament is expected to go into session Tuesday. It was not clear when a vote on Svyrydenko would be scheduled.

Although Zelenskyy has not faced elections, politics has simmered below the surface in Ukraine during the war. Before Russia’s invasion, Ukraine had emerged from Soviet authoritarianism as the largest democracy among the successor states, while Russia reverted to Soviet-style repressions.

Zelenskyy’s continued hold on power is not guaranteed. He has unequivocally embraced a ceasefire that Russia has so far rejected, despite the deep unpopularity in Ukraine of any concessions to Russia.

Political analysts said Zelenskyy had motives for replacing Shmyhal beyond lifting morale in the war-ravaged country with a promise of fresh leadership, or consolidating power at a wobbly moment for Ukraine.

Shmyhal had played a mostly behind-the-scenes role steering the economy — but with such a bland public persona that few Ukrainians were aware of his actions. As such, he did little to deflect criticism from Zelenskyy, said Maksym Dzhyhun, the director of Good Politics, an analytical group based in Kyiv. Zelenskyy was looking for a more effective political lightning rod, he said.

Ukrainska Pravda, a leading Ukrainian news outlet, reported that Shmyhal had appeared to threaten Zelenskyy by cultivating an independent network within the bureaucracy that Zelenskyy wanted curtailed.

In any case, Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a member of parliament from the opposition Holos party, said promoting a deputy prime minister was unlikely to inspire Ukrainians about new leadership. “They are changing chairs,” he said in an interview.

The move appeared instead intended to install an official of unquestioning loyalty, he said. “It’s a consolidation of power,” Zheleznyak said. “It’s very hard to tell the difference between the old prime minister and the new one, but there is this explanation.”