Ukraine's parliament on Sept. 4 voted in favor of the resignations of Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Olha Stefanishyna, Strategic Industries Minister Alexander Kamyshin, Justice Minister Denys Maliuska, and Ecology Minister Ruslan Strilets.
The news comes against the backdrop of several high-profile ministers, including Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, submitting their resignation letters in a major cabinet reshuffle.
Some 243 lawmakers supported Kamyshin's resignation, while 241 voted in favor of Stefanishyna stepping down, 249 voted in favor in Maliuska's case, and 244 in Strilets's case.
Also on Sept. 4, the parliament failed to gather enough votes to support the resignations of State Property Fund head Vitalii Koval and Deputy Prime Minister and Reintegration Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
According to lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak, 225 lawmakers voted for the resignation of Koval and 214 for the resignation of Vereshchuk, which represented the majority of the present MPs but was not enough to pass the vote. An absolute majority – 226 votes – is required.
By parliament's procedures, resigning ministers are expected to come to the plenary hall for the vote. Only Kamyshin and Justice Minister Denys Maliuska were present, Zhelezniak said.
The vote on Kuleba's resignation was suddenly put on hold as "Servant of the People lawmakers understood it would fail," the lawmaker claimed.
The government reshuffle was "expected long ago" ahead of a difficult few months for Ukraine, a senior lawmaker told the Kyiv Independent on Sept. 4.
"It is a big reshuffle. It was expected rather long ago," said Oleksandr Merezhko, Ukrainian MP and chair of the parliament's foreign affairs committee.
Chris York
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