Ukraine’s foreign minister Kuleba resigns as Russian strikes kill 7 people in Lviv

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, one of Ukraine’s most recognizable faces on the international stage, submitted his resignation on Wednesday before an expected Cabinet reshuffle. Russian strikes, meanwhile, killed at least seven people in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, a day after one of the deadliest missile attacks since the war began.

Kuleba, 43, didn’t give a reason for stepping down and his resignation will be discussed by lawmakers at their next session, parliamentary Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said on his Facebook page. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated that a Cabinet reshuffle was imminent last week as he tries to strengthen the government 2 1/2 years into the war.

During Russia’s war in Ukraine, Kuleba has been second only to Zelenskyy in carrying Ukraine’s message and needs to an international audience, whether through social media posts or meetings with foreign dignitaries. In July, Kuleba became the highest-ranking Ukrainian official to visit China since Russia’s full-scale invasion started in February 2022. He has been foreign minister since March 2020.

More than half the current Cabinet will undergo changes, said Davyd Arakhamiia, a leader of Zelenskyy’s party in the Ukrainian parliament. Ministers will be resigning on Wednesday and new appointments will be made Thursday, he said.

Russian attacks, meanwhile, killed at least seven people and wounded 35 others in an overnight strike on Lviv, Mayor Andrii Sadovyi said Wednesday morning. A child and a medical worker were among the dead and others are in critical condition, he said.

An overnight strike also wounded five people in Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy’s hometown, regional head Serhii Lysak said Wednesday morning.

Zelenskyy reacted to the attacks by urging Ukraine’s allies to give Kyiv “more range” to use Western weapons to strike deeper into Russian territory.

The attack happened a day after two ballistic missiles blasted a military academy and nearby hospital in Poltava in Ukraine, killing more than 50 people and wounding more than 200 others, Ukrainian officials said, in one of the deadliest Russian strikes since the war began.

The missiles tore into the heart of the Poltava Military Institute of Communication’s main building, causing several stories to collapse.

The missiles hit shortly after an air-raid alert sounded, when many people were on their way to a bomb shelter, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said, describing the strike Tuesday as “barbaric.”

Poltava is about 350 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Kyiv, on the main highway and rail route between Kyiv and Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, which is close to the Russian border.

The attack happened as Ukrainian forces sought to carve out their holdings in Russia’s Kursk border region after a surprise Ukrainian incursion that began Aug. 6 and as the Russian army hacks its way deeper into eastern Ukraine.

The Associated Press