Ukraine's leadership shake-up will not hit relations with allies, minister says

Ukraine's leadership shake-up will not hit relations with allies, minister says

Ukraine's foreign minister said on Tuesday that a military and political shake-up that is expected soon will have no impact on Kyiv's relations with its Western allies.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said he is considering a "reset" to replace several senior officials that will go beyond the military sphere. There is intense speculation that Ukraine's army chief will be fired.

"I do not think that any changes in the government can influence our relations with our partners," Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told a joint news briefing in Kyiv alongside his Portuguese counterpart.

He said it was the constitutional right of Zelenskiy to be able to dismiss the head of the army if he saw fit. Any shake-up would not be a sign of divisions in Ukraine's war effort, he added.

"We can have discussions about tactics inside of the team but we are all united around our strategic goal which is the defeat of Russia in Ukraine and restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty. And there are no discussions whatsoever on this strategic goal," he said.

Speculation has gripped Ukraine for weeks over suggestions that the president was about to dismiss the highly popular army commander, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi.

The two have been at odds over the conduct of the nearly two-year Russian invasion of Ukraine.