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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The newly formed Cabinet of Ministers has been in operation for just over two months. Half of its composition, some ministers and Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi himself are new people on Hrushevskoho Street, 12. Koretskyi himself entered the public sector from big business only last fall 2022: he first headed the nationalized Ukrnafta, and then the National Joint-Stock Company Naftogaz of Ukraine.
From the start, the Koretskyi government has positioned itself as technocratic and ready to make unpopular decisions. For example, since September Ukraine has implemented a strict regime of budgetary savings. In addition, the head of government recently announced a total reduction of civil servants.
Serhii Koretskyi’s government positions itself as technocratic
photo from the government portal
To test the sincerity of these intentions, Hlavkom compiled a database of advisers who the new ministers and the prime minister have already surrounded themselves with. Ministers who moved into the new Cabinet from the previous one mostly retained their advisers.
The head of government and his trusted lawyer
The first adviser Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi chose was Ruslan Kvitin. He was appointed 11 August, advising on a public basis, meaning he does not receive a salary for his services.
At the beginning of September Koretskyi had one adviser, Ruslan Kvitin
Koretskyi and Kvitin have worked closely for at least the past four years. 9 November 2022 Kvitin chaired an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of PJSC Ukrnafta, during which Koretskyi was elected head of the same enterprise. Moreover, the meeting authorized Kvitin to sign a contract with the new director of Ukrnafta.
In the Getcontact mobile app, Ruslan Kvitin’s phone contacts were labeled as “Ruslan Kvitin lawyer, jurist” (his right to practice law as an advocate was suspended from 7 November 2022 on the basis of an application) and “Kvitin Main Directorate of Military Justice” (in 2024 he held the position of deputy head of the Main Directorate of Military Justice, with the rank of senior lieutenant of justice).
By mid-September Koretskyi’s pool of unpaid advisers had expanded. In addition to Kvitin, the prime minister is now advised by Anna Koziarska (for the last 10 years she filed declarations as an adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and Oleh Kryzhanivskyi (who worked as deputy director for legal affairs, director of the department for managing corporate rights at the Ministry of Energy, and deputy director of the department for research and investigations at the Antimonopoly Committee).
For comparison: previous prime ministers during Zelensky’s presidency had different approaches to selecting advisers. For example, Yuliia Svyrydenko had one staff adviser, one assistant and five unpaid advisers. Denis Shmyhal, who held the prime minister’s chair for a record five years and four months, worked with 18 advisers. And half of them were paid.
Oleksii Honcharuk, who served as prime minister for only seven months, is remembered for a whole succession of advisers: the first head of government in Zelensky’s era had four staff advisers, 22 unpaid advisers and two assistants.
Advisers to the new ministers: from a Soviet elder to the wife of Budanov’s deputy
The new minister of justice, and until recently a People’s Deputy from Servant of the People and chair of the parliamentary committee on legal policy, Denys Maslov already has four paid advisers.
Denys Maslov, Minister of Justice of Ukraine
photo: facebook.com/maslov.denys
In particular, Maslov pulled Timur Longynenko from the Verkhovna Rada; he had been his staff adviser there since September 2020. Before parliament, Maslov and Longynenko also worked together at the Avin Trade firm from Dnipro.
Minister of Justice Denys Maslov has four paid advisers
Maksym Svyssenko came to Maslov as an inheritance from former Vice Prime Minister for Restoration Oleksii Kuleba. Svyssenko worked for Kuleba for almost two years. Before that, Svyssenko spent a year listed as an adviser to the patronage service of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration.
The other two advisers—Nadiia Kapustina and Mariia Trusova—came from within the Ministry of Justice system. The first worked in the Department of Private Law, the second headed the department of commercial and economic activity at the state enterprise National Information Systems.
For July 2026, Timur Longynenko’s salary was 50,7 thousand UAH, Maksym Svyssenko’s was 3,4 thousand UAH. Such a gap in amounts is likely explained by Longynenko being a paid assistant to MP Maslov and having moved to the Ministry of Justice position, while Svyssenko joined the minister’s team only after the new minister’s appointment.
Another former Servant of the People member, the newly appointed head of the reformed Ministry for Communities, Territories and Internally Displaced Persons, Vitalii Bezgin informed Hlavkom in response to a request about his three advisers.
Vitalii Bezgin, Minister for Communities, Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine
photo: facebook.com/BezginVitalik
They are former first deputy head of the Ternopil Regional State Administration Stepan Kuibida, son of former Minister of Regional Development and Construction Vasyl Kuibida; deputy head of Kyiv Regional State Administration for digitalization Maksym Stoliarchuk; and lawyer Oleksandr Mahdalits. All of Bezgin’s advisers are unpaid.
Minister for Communities Vitalii Bezgin has three unpaid advisers
At the beginning of September the Minister of Internal Affairs Ivan Vyhivskyi (who moved to the government from the National Police) had four paid advisers on staff.
Ivan Vyhivskyi, Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine
photo: facebook.com/ivan.vyhivskyi.mia
It should be noted that all of them were appointed by Vyhivskyi’s predecessor, current NSDC Secretary Ihor Klymenko. These are Vasyl Durdynets, Yurii Pasternak, Yevhen Sarnatskyi and Dmytro Finashyn.
The head of the Interior Ministry Ivan Vyhivskyi relied on “Klymenko’s people”
The most well-known among the quartet of advisers to the new head of the Interior Ministry is 89-year-old Vasyl Durdynets.
Since 2003 he has consistently been listed as an adviser to the entire Ministry of Internal Affairs and for more than 15 years to its head. Durdynets is a general of the internal service.
Durdynets’s service record includes high government positions: first deputy chair of the Verkhovna Rada in 1992–1994; acting prime minister in 1997; minister for emergency situations and for protection of the population from the consequences of the Chornobyl disaster in 1999–2002; Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Ukraine to Hungary (and concurrently to Slovenia) in 2002–2003. And finally, Vasyl Durdynets is a People’s Deputy of the I–II convocations, holder of the honorary status “Founder of the Modern State of Ukraine.”
Just during Vyhivskyi’s tenure (half of July and August 2026) adviser Durdynets already received 58,3 thousand UAH in salary.
The new minister for restoration, infrastructure and transport Mykola Kalashnyk (previously head of Kyiv Regional State Administration) had six advisers at the beginning of September: four staff and two unpaid.
Mykola Kalashnyk, Minister for Restoration, Infrastructure and Transport of Ukraine
photo: facebook.com/mykola.kalashnyk
Minister Mykola Kalashnyk took as an adviser the wife of Budanov’s deputy Ihor Zhovkva
For the incomplete months of July and August the minister’s advisers received 249 thousand UAH in salary. Among them:
Anastasia Ivanovska, who until the end of March this year served as head of the International Relations Department of the State Service for Maritime and Inland Water Transport and Shipping. She is the wife of Deputy Head of the President’s Office Ihor Zhovkva.
Mykyta Herashchenko — earlier worked as head of international cooperation at the Kyiv RSA during the tenure of the same Mykola Kalashnyk. Currently a deputy of Bucha City Council from Servant of the People.
Yurii Halaievskyi — before joining the Ministry for Restoration he worked as deputy director of the Legal Support Department of the State Tax Service; deputy director of the Department of Transport Infrastructure of the executive body of Kyiv City Council; and deputy head of the apparatus of the Supreme Court.
Maryana Moskal.
Kalashnyk’s unpaid advisers include Anton Samoilenko, current deputy head of Kherson RSA. According to Hlavkom’s sources in the government, the minister for restoration is considering Samoilenko for the position of deputy head of the State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development.
Dar’ia Novykova serves as the minister for restoration’s unpaid adviser. According to the YouControl analytical system, she was an assistant to Servant of the People MPs Andrii Motovylovets and Roman Kaptielov.
Among the new appointments — the unpaid adviser to Kalashnyk became the director of the Kyiv Region Agency for Regional Development Nazarii Volianskyi. He is also an unpaid assistant to Servant MP Oleksandr Kachura.
The minister for veterans Vitalii Kim (who previously headed Mykolaiv RSA for almost six years) currently has three advisers.
Vitalii Kim, Minister for Veterans of Ukraine
photo: Facebook.com/mva.gov.ua
Two of them are paid: Viktoriia Oliinyk (Kim’s press secretary from his time in the regional administration) and Nelli Yaroivenko (adviser to the patronage service at Mykolaiv RSA). For August, Oliinyk’s salary amounted to 116,8 thousand UAH, of which almost half 49,9 thousand UAH was a bonus.
The minister Kim’s advisers Viktoriia Oliinyk and Nelli Yaroivenko came with him from the Mykolaiv RSA
The minister for veterans’ unpaid adviser is Oleksandr Yanush.
The newly appointed minister of economy and environment Oleksandr Kravchenko, who came into power from an international company, had nine advisers at the beginning of September.
Oleksandr Kravchenko, Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine
photo: facebook.com/oleksandr.kravchenko.5
Of them six are paid: Oleksandra Vlad, Vitalii Salo, Platon Khizhniak (all three worked at the Ministry of Economy in junior positions), Volodymyr Serevetnyi (has experience in various positions at the Ministry of Defense, Ukrzaliznytsia, Ministry of Finance), Andrii Teliupa (former deputy minister of economy), Yarema Dukh (communications specialist, previously a staff adviser to former Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko).
Minister Oleksandr Kravchenko took former deputy minister of economy Andrii Teliupa as an adviser
Unpaid advice to the new minister of economy is provided by Servant of the People MP Dmytro Kysylevskyi, Iryna Krykunenko and Iryna Chernysh.
The minister of education and science Andrii Butenko uses the services of two staff advisers. These are Serhii Burian, who heads the minister’s patronage service.
For 2025 year Burian declared 53,2 thousand UAH in payments from the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance, which was then headed by the current minister Butenko.
Also performing the functions of the minister of education’s adviser is Olha Pylypenko; she previously worked at the National Aviation University as executive editor of the journal “Ukrainian Language and Literature in the Modern School” published by Pedagogical Press.
As for the new minister of defense Yevhen Khmara, by the end of August he had no advisers. This information was provided to Hlavkom by the director of the Personnel Department, Brigadier General Mark Andrusyak, in response to a request.
Yevhen Khmara, Minister of Defense of Ukraine
photo: facebook.com/MinistryofDefence.UA
The minister and his 37 advisers
Hlavkom also received information about advisers to the vice prime ministers and ministers whom the Rada reappointed to Koretskyi’s Cabinet.
The Vice Prime Minister for Humanitarian Affairs — Minister of Culture Tetyana Berezhna has eight advisers: four staff and the same number unpaid.
Tetyana Berezhna, Vice Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy of Ukraine
photo: facebook.com/MCSCUkraine
On the payroll are Oleh Maksim’iak (who at the same time is listed as an unpaid adviser to Servant of the People MP Mariia Mezenceva-Fedorenko), Tetiana Levchenko, Mykola Nosok and Anton Tkachenko (photographer).
On a public basis — Yaroslava Babenchuk, Oleksandra Kovalchuk, Mykola Kocherhan and Yurii Kurka (an SBU employee, who previously served as an adviser to two ministers of culture, Mykola Tochytskyi and Oleksandr Tkachenko).
The Vice Prime Minister for Humanitarian Affairs — Minister of Culture Tetyana Berezhna has eight advisers
The minister of youth and sports Matvii Bidnyi, who came to the new government from the previous one, has already “grown” 16 advisers.
Matvii Bidnyi, Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine
photo: facebook.com/minmolodsport
The only paid adviser is Yurii Muzyka, who worked for two years as Bidnyi’s first deputy.
The minister of youth and sports Matvii Bidnyi has “grown” 16 advisers
Among the list of 15 unpaid advisers is the renowned former striker of Donetsk Shakhtar and the Ukraine national team Yehven Selezniov and two former deputy ministers of sport Yaroslav Voitovych and Andrii Chesnokov.
The country’s top diplomat, Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha, as a year ago, has two unpaid advisers: serviceman and former TV host Mykola Serha and Denys Koliada, who had contacts with the now-deceased Pope Francis.
Andrii Sybiha, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
photo: facebook.com/andrij.sybiha
Health Minister Viktor Liashko has surrounded himself with 11 advisers. Three of them are staff (Nataliia Bezditko, Yana Panafidnikova, Maryna Polishchuk).
Viktor Liashko, Minister of Health of Ukraine
photo: facebook.com/viktor.liashko
The rest are unpaid advisers: Oleksii Kravchenko, Mykhailo Riabinchuk, Pavlo Brahinskyi, Andrii Vilenskyi (acting head of the National Health Service in 2020–2021), Veronika Hryshchenko, Iryna Mykychak (who was first deputy minister of health during the “COVID” period), Dmytro Lufer, Denys Herasymovych.
The record-holding minister for number of advisers is the head of the Ministry of Finance Serhii Marchenko. He has 37 of them!
Serhii Marchenko, Minister of Finance of Ukraine
photo: facebook.com/sergey.marchenko.54
Interesting note. Political technologist Borys Tizengauzen is counted as an unpaid adviser to the minister of finance. In 2014–2019 he was an unpaid adviser to President Petro Poroshenko’s Administration. Incidentally, at that time Serhii Marchenko worked as deputy head of the Presidential Administration, which was headed by Ihor Rainin.
Minister of Finance Serhii Marchenko has 37 advisers
A year ago Hlavkom analyzed all of Marchenko’s advisers. Since then, the finance minister has made minor rotations. New unpaid advisers are: lawyer and former VIII convocation MP Tetiana Ostrikova-Chmeruk, and former first deputy head of the State Financial Monitoring Service Ihor Haievskyi.
Vitalii Taranenko, Hlavkom
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Очі та вуха уряду Корецького. Повний список радників прем’єра та його міністрів". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ZmiOne.
