Zelenskyy fires Ukraine’s envoy to UK and minister quits in shake-up

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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine dismissed two longstanding allies in the cabinet and diplomatic service, as he warned that spending must be focused on the defence of the country against Russian aggression.

In his evening address, Zelenskyy said he had asked Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to “consider replacing” his culture minister Oleksandr Tkachenko over his decision to allocate millions of dollars to projects unrelated to the country’s war effort.

“In a time of war like this the maximum amount of state attention and therefore state resources should go to defence,” the president said late on Thursday. “Museums, cultural centres, symbols, TV series — all of this is important, but now there are other priorities.”

Hours later, Zelenskyy fired Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK. Vadym Prystaiko, a former foreign minister, had served as Kyiv’s top diplomat in the UK since July 2020.

Tkachenko had wanted to spend about $13.5mn to finish a Kyiv museum commemorating Ukrainians killed in the Holodomor, the man-made famine under Soviet leader Josef Stalin the 1930s.

Tkachenko said he had submitted his resignation to Zelenskyy and defended the projects he had hoped to fund.

“Culture in wartime is important as this war is not just about territory but also people — our memory, history, language and creativity despite the war,” he said in post on Facebook early on Friday. “Private and state funding for culture in wartime is no less important than for drones. Culture is the shield for our identity and our borders.”

A decree published by Zelenskyy’s office gave no reason for Prystaiko’s sacking, but his recent criticism of Zelenskyy over a testy exchange between the Ukrainian president and UK defence minister Ben Wallace at a Nato summit had ruffled feathers in Kyiv.

Wallace had said western nations were “not Amazon” and that Ukraine should show more gratitude for the weapons it had received in order to ensure their continued support.

“How else can we show our gratitude? We can wake up in the morning and thank the minister,” Zelenskyy responded. “Let him write to me and tell me how to thank him.”

Prystaiko remarked to UK broadcaster Sky News that there was a “little bit of sarcasm” in his president’s retort, which he believed was “unhealthy”.

“We’re not expecting anybody to fight for us, we only ask for equipment,” Prystaiko said. “Ben can call me and tell me anything he wants.”

Zelenskyy has been known to not handle public criticism well, Ukrainian news magazine New Voice said on Friday in an article about Prystaiko’s dismissal.

But some in Kyiv believe Prystaiko’s departure was unrelated to his comments and that it is possible that Zelenskyy, who like to shakes up his government and diplomatic corps with relative frequency, could again be shuffling personnel around.

Prystaiko, who served as foreign minister under Zelenskyy in 2019-20, was himself part of a diplomatic reshuffle that saw him depart to London and be replaced by Dmytro Kuleba.

“I really don’t think that any comment, let alone one taken out of context, served as [a reason] for the dismissal,” former Ukrainian foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin told Radio NV in Kyiv. “Therefore, there are probably some plans [to move Prystaiko elsewhere].”