Who is Andri Sibiga, Ukraine’s new foreign minister, whose mission will be to obtain more military support to confront Russia?

After four years as one of the deputy heads of the office of President Volodymyr Zelensky, the former Ukrainian diplomat Andrí Sibiga was appointed as the new Minister of Foreign Affairs on Thursday from his country with the mission of convincing kyiv’s allies to take new steps in their military support for Ukraine.

Another of Sibiga’s missions will be to bring his country closer to an end to the war on terms acceptable to kyiv, according to the roadmap outlined by Zelensky for the coming months, in which the Ukrainian president hopes to present a detailed peace plan that can be presented to Russia with the endorsement of as many third countries as possible.

Who is Sibiga?

Born in Zboriv in the western Ukrainian region of Ternopil in 1975, Sibiga studied law, interpretation and law at Ivan Franko University in Lviv before starting work at the age of just 22 in the legal affairs department of his country’s Foreign Ministry.

One year later, Sibiga began his diplomatic career as second secretary of the Ukrainian embassy in Poland.

In 2003, the career of the current minister took a significant leap forward when he was appointed head of the Department of International Law at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

After holding several other positions in the Ministry, in 2012 he took over the position of head of the General Directorate for Consular Services.

Four years later, Sibiga was appointed ambassador to Turkey, a position he held until 2021, when he joined the presidential office of Volodymyr Zelensky.

As one of the deputy heads of that office, Sibiga worked on foreign policy issues and wrote speeches for Zelensky, according to the Ukrainska Pravda publication.

Last April, Sibiga returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as deputy minister, an intermediate step towards his appointment as minister, which was completed this Thursday.

With the arrival at the Ministry of Sibiga, The Zelensky administration has appointed a person with the utmost direct confidence of the president as head of Ukrainian diplomacy.

During the final phase of his mandate, the outgoing Foreign Minister, Dmitro Kuleba, saw some of his duties overshadowed by the leading role assumed in the performance of Ukraine’s international action by the former head of Sibiga in the presidential office, Andri Yermak, who is considered Zelensky’s right-hand man.

Russia considers shutting down Kursk nuclear power plant due to fighting in the region

Russian authorities say they have considered shutting down the Kursk nuclear power plant because of the danger the facility faces due to the incursion of Ukrainian troops into the region, the head of the Russian nuclear corporation Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, announced on Thursday.

“We have considered this option. We have analysed it,” Likhachev was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.

He added that there is no decision on the matter at the moment.

“The Kursk nuclear power plant is of great importance, it plays an important role in supplying energy to the entire region and that is very important now”he noted.

According to Likhachev, the security measures taken to protect the plant are sufficient for the time being.

The director general of the UN nuclear agency, IAEA, Rafael Grossi, visited the Kursk nuclear plant last week, where he warned of a second Chernobyl if fighting in the area continues.

“We believe it is very serious that a power plant of this kind is so close to a battle front,” Grossi told the international press at the end of his inspection visit to the plant, whose reactor – he said – is very exposed to a possible attack.

The Argentine official called the attention of the international community after inspecting the reactor and the control room of the plant, located about 70 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.

“Under no circumstances should a nuclear power plant be attacked,” he stressed, calling on all parties to take the necessary preventive measures.