Dmytro Kuleba: straight-talking face of Ukraine's diplomacy

Dmytro Kuleba -- who offered to resign as Ukraine's top diplomat Wednesday -- tirelessly toured the world pleading for more military support and for Kyiv to be given the green light to strike targets deep inside Russia.

The 43-year-old -- Ukraine's youngest ever foreign minister when President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed him in 2020 -- is the best-known figure to be on the way out in a major government reshuffle.

The son of an ambassador, the bespectacled career diplomat is one of the most talented public speakers in Ukrainian politics.

Kuleba became a familiar face in the West after the Russian invasion in 2022, championing Kyiv's position and appealing for weapons.

"We know how to win. And will win," he told "The Late Show" on US television in 2022, to thunderous applause from the studio audience.

But, like Zelensky, he also grew visibly frustrated by Western fatigue and slow weapons deliveries as the conflict dragged on.

"When Ukraine has everything it needs, we do not lack courage and military skill to advance and win," he told CNN this week, referring to Kyiv's surprise incursion into Russia's Kursk region this summer.

Kuleba is also popular back home.

No reasons have been given for his departure -- which lawmakers still need to vote on in parliament.

- 'New energy' -

Zelensky said the reshuffle was taking place because his government needs "new energy".

But sources close to the president told AFP that Kuleba had been criticised for the functioning of his ministry and had been under pressure from Zelensky's chief of staff Andriy Yermak.

While his diplomacy was recognised, Kuleba's removal was also part of a bid by the presidency to exert a tighter grip on foreign policy, sources suggested.

"He is a good minister, we can only thank him," one member of Zelensky's team said. But the presidency wanted "even more manual control".

His deputy, Andriy Sybiga, a former ambassador to Turkey and ex-presidential office staffer, is rumoured to be replacing him.

Kuleba has spent recent months trying to persuade the West to allow Kyiv to use its weapons to strike military targets deep inside Russia, dismissing Western fears of escalation as an "excuse not to do anything".

Despite meeting some resistance from key allies, he earned admiration for his communication skills.

- Admired in the West -

"Long conversations on night trains, at the G7, on the frontlines, in Brussels, in front of a bombed-out power plant," said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on X, reminiscing about their relationship.

"There are few people I've worked as closely with as you," she added.

Poland's Defence Minister Wladysław Kosiniak-Kamysz hailed his performance in an "extremely difficult" role.

Ukrainian political scientist Mykola Davydiuk told AFP that Kuleba's popularity stemmed from the fact that he was "understandable in the West, not corrupt.. and behaved like a typical Western politician".

He added that Kuleba, while a good public speaker, "did not try to compete" with Zelensky.

Speculation was rife in Kyiv on Wednesday that the diplomat would be moved to a role involved in Ukraine's bid to join the NATO military alliance.

A source close to the presidential office told AFP that Zelensky and Kuleba would "discuss and decide" his next post.

Born in Sumy -- a city in northeastern Ukraine now regularly shelled by Russia -- Kuleba studied international relations in Kyiv.

He built a diplomatic career in the early 2000s, but quit in 2013, denouncing former pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych and joining the Maidan protest movement that overthrew him.

He rejoined Ukraine's foreign ministry in 2014, the tumultuous year when Russia annexed Crimea with war breaking out in the east.

Sybiga's appointment as Kuleba's second in command in April was seen as a bid by the presidential office to better control the foreign ministry.