Kuleba Dmytro Ivanovych

Yanukovych's advisor — and Ukraine's "most successful" diplomat

In the first half of 2013, Dmytro Kuleba was an advisor to Vice Prime Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko — a member of Yanukovych's government. After the Maidan, this episode conveniently "disappeared" from his biography. Kuleba himself built his career on the image of the "new face of diplomacy" — a person without ties to the old system. The ties existed. They were just short-term.

2.5 million income with a salary of 250 thousand: declaration without explanations

Kuleba's 2018 declaration recorded income exceeding 2.5 million UAH — with an official salary of about 250 thousand UAH per year. The tenfold difference remained without public explanation. He did not hold a government position that year, but where the money came from is a question the media asked and never received a clear answer to.

"Corruption is exaggerated" — and don't come to your own dismissal

In 2022, Kuleba in closed meetings with Western partners asked "not to tell him scary stories about corruption in Ukraine" — calling these narratives "exaggerated" and partly "Russian propaganda." At the same time, his ministry was not distinguished by transparency. In September 2024, when the Rada was voting for his dismissal, Kuleba did not even appear at the session. He left quietly — from the gym home to write his resignation letter.

Harvard instead of the front — and silence about failures

After the resignation, Kuleba became a senior fellow at Harvard. A comfortable position for a person whose ministry, over 4.5 years, failed to develop an effective mechanism for returning Ukrainian draft evaders from abroad and did not achieve full confiscation of frozen Russian assets. Blinken praised him. Ukrainians with summonses — likely not.