By Anastasiia Malenko and Max Hunder
KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine’s parliament voted on Thursday to appoint Yulia Svyrydenko as the country’s new prime minister, lawmakers said on social media.
According to several lawmakers, 262 of them voted for Svyrydenko, a comfortable majority in the 450-seat parliament. Ukraine’s parliament does not broadcast its sessions in wartime.
Her appointment was supported by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as part of his biggest government reshuffle since Russia’s invasion began in February 2022.
Svyrydenko, 39, has served as economy minister and one of Ukraine’s deputy prime ministers since November 2021.
A photograph of the electronic vote table in the chamber posted by another lawmaker, Yaroslav Zheleznyak, showed 22 votes against her appointment and 26 abstentions.
Parliament is also expected to vote through the appointment of outgoing PM Denys Shmyhal, who served for more than five years in the role, as defence minister.
Zelenskiy said he wanted his reshuffled cabinet to focus on deregulation, expanding economic co-operation with allies, and stronger punishments for those who threatened Ukraine’s statehood and “stole Ukraine’s potential.”
Svyrydenko has experience working with top officials in Washington, having negotiated and signed a deal with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in April that gave the U.S. preferential access to new Ukrainian minerals deals and will help fund investment in Ukraine’s reconstruction.
In a speech to parliament on Thursday shortly before the vote to confirm Svyrydenko, Zelenskiy spoke of unspecified future agreements with the United States which he said would strengthen Ukraine.
The incoming PM was congratulated on her appointment by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“We stand fully behind you as you fight for Ukraine’s survival and work for your country’s recovery and EU future.”
However, some Ukrainian opposition lawmakers voiced scepticism on the new government.
Yaroslav Zheleznyak of the Holos party said the new government would be largely in hock to Zelenskiy, who has significant wartime powers under Ukraine’s constitution.
“They will be told by the president’s office what they should really do,” he wrote.
(Reporting by Anastasiia Malenko, Max Hunder and Yuliia Dysa; writing by Max Hunder; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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