| Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s new cabinet, installed after the biggest government shake-up since Russia’s full-scale invasion, will redouble efforts to seek fresh financial resources and produce weapons as the war drags on. As Yulia Svyrydenko, 39, replaces Denys Shmyhal as prime minister, Zelenskiy will have another presidential loyalist in the role as Kyiv seeks to buoy its relationship with the US under Donald Trump. Svyrydenko helped broker a landmark natural resource deal with Washington earlier this year. Her remit will be to shore up financing and to build Ukraine’s domestic weapons production. While this year’s budget commitments are covered, Ukraine is in a rush to secure foreign aid to help finance projects next year. The war-battered nation faces a $40 billion shortfall, with the government holding out for funds from abroad to cover spending, including next year’s salary and pension payments. “One of the key challenges that has recently emerged is securing sufficient external financing for the coming years, should the war continue,” said Olena Bilan, chief economist at Kyiv-based investment bank Dragon Capital. Key support from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund are set to expire in 2027, she said. The reshuffle also shifts Ukraine’s arms industry under the Defense Ministry, which will now be led by Shmyhal, whose five-year tenure made him the eastern European nation’s longest-serving premier. The expanded remit reflects the growing importance of Ukraine’s domestic arms production, which currently covers 40% of what its forces use on the battlefield. Zelenskiy wants Ukraine to increase that to half in the first six month’s of the new government’s mandate. “We all see how difficult it is to maintain the world's sufficient support — and how many other wars and crises are breaking out in the world, scattering global efforts,” Zelenskiy told lawmakers. “So, Ukraine needs more of its own strength.” | 
