Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, approved the appointment of Sergii Koretskyi as the country’s new Prime Minister on July 16, 2026, with 289 votes in favour. Koretskyi, the former chief executive of the state-owned energy giant Naftogaz, succeeds Yulia Svyrydenko, who served as Prime Minister for just under one year. His appointment marks the third wartime change of government since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Who Is Sergii Koretskyi?
Sergii Koretskyi, 48, was born in Lutsk, a city in western Ukraine. He holds three higher education degrees in mechanical engineering, business economics, and oil and gas production from Lutsk State Technical University. In 2019, he completed the Executive MBA programme at the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School.
Koretskyi built his career entirely in the private sector, with more than 20 years of experience in the energy industry. He started at the Continuum Group in the late 1990s, rising from an analyst to become its chief executive. He later led the WOG filling station network, one of Ukraine’s largest fuel retail chains. In 2019, he founded Idealist Coffee Co., a coffee chain and roasting company in Kyiv.
His move into state-owned enterprises came in November 2022, when he was appointed head of Ukrnafta, Ukraine’s largest oil producer, and Ukrtatnafta, an oil refining company, after their shares were transferred to state ownership under martial law. Koretskyi turned Ukrnafta around from a loss-making company that had accumulated over UAH 10 billion in losses between 2013 and 2022 into one of Ukraine’s most profitable state enterprises, posting a combined net profit of UAH 40 billion in 2023 and 2024.
In May 2025, Koretskyi became Chairman of the Board of Naftogaz of Ukraine, the national oil and gas company. Naftogaz was established in 1998 and is headquartered in Kyiv. It is a state-owned vertically integrated company that accounts for more than 70% of Ukraine’s domestic natural gas production and operates over 38,200 km of high-pressure gas transit pipelines. Under Koretskyi’s leadership, the Naftogaz Group ended 2025 with revenue of UAH 270.9 billion, a 5.7% increase over the previous year.
A Political Outsider with Energy Expertise
Koretskyi has never held a government position before this appointment and has no affiliation with any political party. This makes him an unusual choice in Ukrainian politics, where most prime ministers have been career politicians or long-serving civil servants. Analysts have described his combination of a strong managerial track record and political neutrality as a distinct advantage in a wartime environment where bureaucratic infighting can slow decision-making.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described Koretskyi as the most prepared candidate for the job, pointing to his success at Ukrnafta and Naftogaz as proof of his crisis management abilities. Zelenskyy noted that Koretskyi had transformed Ukrnafta after years of oligarchic control and had steered Naftogaz through a difficult winter, leaving the country with adequate gas supplies despite relentless Russian attacks on energy infrastructure.
Koretskyi is the fourth Prime Minister to serve under President Zelenskyy, following Denys Shmyhal (2020 to 2025) and Yulia Svyrydenko (2025 to 2026), with Oleksiy Honcharuk serving briefly in 2019 to 2020.
Why the Government Reshuffle?
President Zelenskyy announced the government reshuffle on July 12, 2026, stating that Ukraine was changing its political strategy. The outgoing Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, who took office in July 2025 at age 39, resigned after the Verkhovna Rada accepted her resignation on July 14. By law, her resignation automatically dissolved the entire Cabinet of Ministers.
Svyrydenko, the second woman to serve as Ukraine’s Prime Minister after Yulia Tymoshenko, was offered a new diplomatic role by Zelenskyy. Reports indicate she is expected to become Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States, replacing Olha Stefanishyna. Before becoming Prime Minister, Svyrydenko served as First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development and Trade, and played a lead role in securing the minerals agreement between Ukraine and the United States.
The reshuffle came amid a broader reassessment of Ukraine’s wartime strategy, with Zelenskyy signalling the need to refocus government priorities on energy resilience, defence production, and advancing Ukraine’s integration into the European Union. The move also coincided with growing domestic pressure, including protests over the dismissal of the Defence Minister, and the need to streamline decision-making ahead of what is expected to be an extremely difficult winter.
Priorities of the New Government
In his address to parliament before the vote, Koretskyi outlined five key priorities for his government. The first and most urgent is preparing Ukraine for winter, after the country endured the heaviest bombardment of its energy infrastructure in the previous season. Russian strikes have consistently targeted Ukraine’s power grid and gas facilities, and Kyiv faces a shortage of interceptors to down ballistic missiles. The second priority is comprehensive support for the military, including fully equipping the Defence Forces and expanding domestic defence production capabilities. The third is economic stability, which involves supporting businesses, managing incoming international financial aid efficiently, and fulfilling the state’s social obligations such as pensions and public services. The fourth is strengthening cooperation with international partners and advancing Ukraine’s EU integration. The fifth is supporting frontline communities and implementing national housing programmes for those affected by the war.
The focus on energy resilience is deeply personal for Koretskyi. As head of Naftogaz, he managed the company during some of the most intense Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s gas infrastructure. In his address to parliament, he noted that Naftogaz had weathered the harshest winter and ensured an uninterrupted gas supply to Ukrainians despite significant production losses from Russian strikes.
Ukraine’s Political System: A Primer
Ukraine is a semi-presidential republic where power is shared between the President, who is the head of state, and the Prime Minister, who is the head of government. The President is directly elected by popular vote every five years. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President but must be approved by a majority vote in parliament.
The Verkhovna Rada is Ukraine’s unicameral parliament. It consists of 450 deputies, known as People’s Deputies, elected for a five-year term. Since the Russian invasion in 2022, elections have been suspended under martial law. The parliament is presided over by a Speaker, currently Ruslan Stefanchuk, who has held the position since October 2021.
The Prime Minister presides over the Cabinet of Ministers, the highest body of the executive branch. A resignation by the Prime Minister automatically results in the dismissal of the entire Cabinet, as happened when Svyrydenko stepped down.
Since Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, there have been 19 Prime Ministers, reflecting a history of political instability and frequent government turnover. The longest-serving was Denys Shmyhal, who held office for over five years during the full-scale war.
Key Takeaways
- The Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s unicameral parliament) approved Sergii Koretskyi as Prime Minister on July 16, 2026, with 289 votes in favour.
- Koretskyi, 48, is a political independent with no prior government experience and over 20 years in the energy sector, most recently as CEO of Naftogaz, Ukraine’s state-owned oil and gas company.
- He succeeds Yulia Svyrydenko, who served as Prime Minister for just under one year (July 2025 to July 2026) and was offered a diplomatic role as Ukraine’s likely Ambassador to the United States.
- Koretskyi is the fourth Prime Minister under President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the third wartime head of government since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
- Naftogaz of Ukraine, established in 1998 and headquartered in Kyiv, is the country’s largest oil and gas company, accounting for over 70% of domestic natural gas production.
- Ukraine follows a semi-presidential system of government, where the President is the head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government, appointed by the President with parliamentary approval.
