Yulia Svyrydenko Resigns Amid Cabinet Shake-Up As Speculation Grows Over Possible US Ambassador Role; Ukrainian Strikes Disrupt Russian Shipping In Azov Sea On Day 1,601 Of War
Yulia Svyrydenko resigned as Ukraine’s prime minister on Sunday, amid speculation that she could be appointed as Kyiv’s ambassador to the United States. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that changes would also be made to the leadership of the country’s law enforcement agencies.
According to Reuters, opposition legislator Yaroslav Zhelezniak said Yulia Svyrydenko was likely to be appointed Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, with Naftogaz chief Serhiy Koretskyi emerging as the frontrunner to succeed her as prime minister.
Other names reportedly being considered for the position include Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal, who previously served as prime minister, and Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine was reshaping its political approach and had offered Yulia Svyrydenko the chance to head “a new, important area” of the country’s relationship with one of its key international partners.
The announcement follows the NATO summit in Ankara, where relations between Kyiv and Donald Trump’s administration appeared to improve, with the US president pledging to grant Ukraine a licence to manufacture Patriot air defence missiles.
Ukraine has faced significant political turmoil over the past year, with its most serious corruption scandal leading to the resignation of a senior presidential aide. In 2025, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also sparked nationwide protests after seeking to curtail the autonomy of anti-corruption institutions before eventually reversing the decision.
Three people were killed and five others injured in the Moscow region following a series of drone attacks, according to regional governor Andrey Vorobyov, as Ukraine continued its strikes on Russian oil and gas infrastructure as well as military-linked industrial facilities.
Vorobyov said a drone crashed in the settlement of Pionersky in Istra, killing three people and injuring three others. He added that two more people were wounded elsewhere in the region, while Russian air defence systems intercepted 81 drones over the area.
Ukrainian drone strikes reportedly ignited an oil depot in Mikhailovsk, located in Russia’s Stavropol region, on Monday morning, according to social media reports from both Ukraine and Russia.
Regional governor Vladimir Vladimirov said Russian forces were responding to “an enemy drone attack” near Stavropol, a description that Russian officials have frequently used following strikes on strategic facilities.
Russian media reported that an earlier Ukrainian strike struck the Syzran oil refinery in the Samara region, with footage showing heavy black smoke billowing from the facility.
According to local authorities, one person died in the incident. Samara Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said three people, including a child, were injured. Ukraine has repeatedly maintained that it does not intentionally target civilians.
Russia has reportedly suspended shipping operations in the Sea of Azov after 90 vessels came under attack from Ukrainian drones in less than a week, according to Luke Harding, reporting from Kyiv.
Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s drone forces, said on Sunday that overnight operations struck 10 tankers, four ferries, and a major oil refinery in the Russian city of Syzran. He also claimed that several electricity substations in Russian-occupied Crimea were hit during the attacks.
Ukraine’s allies, known as the “coalition of the willing,” will be meeting in Paris on Monday for talks on pressuring Russia to end its more than four-year war. France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said in Ankara that he would use the summit to unveil new defence initiatives and joint military exercises. The meeting will also focus on tackling Russia’s shadow fleet, new military capabilities for Ukraine, greater mobilisation of defence industries and deeper operational cooperation among Kyiv’s backers, Macron said. Keir Starmer, Britain’s outgoing prime minister, is among those expected to be in Paris, as well as EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa. Two more countries, Moldova and North Macedonia, have joined the coalition, the Elysee said.
A French presidency official said the talks would focus on boosting cooperation in anti-ballistic missile defence, including efforts to obtain more US Patriot interceptors, speed up the rollout of the Franco-Italian SAMP-T air defence system, and assess ways for European and Ukrainian defence manufacturers to jointly develop alternative capabilities.
Among the proposals under consideration is a collaborative European missile defence project that would work alongside the SAMP-T and Patriot systems while allowing Ukraine to play a key manufacturing role.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy paid tribute to the late US Senator Lindsey Graham, describing him as “a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer.”
Graham, who was 71, died on Saturday after reportedly suffering a massive heart attack. The senator had recently returned from a visit to Ukraine, where he remained one of the strongest American supporters of the country’s fight against Russia’s invasion.
According to David Smith, Graham had announced on Friday that an agreement had been reached with the Trump administration to advance a new package of sanctions against Russia.
Regional authorities said Russian drones struck Odesa on Sunday night, as fresh attacks continued across Ukraine.
Earlier in the day, Ukrainian officials reported that a large-scale wave of Russian missile and drone strikes killed four people. Three of the victims died in the Dnipropetrovsk region, including two people killed when an industrial facility in Kryvyi Rih was hit.
In southern Ukraine, Kherson Mayor Yaroslav Shanko said a 48-year-old was killed in a separate drone attack on the city.
Meanwhile, Russian-installed officials claimed that Ukrainian strikes on the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia region left four people dead.
