Denys Shmyhal, the record-holding Prime Minister, may head the Ministry of Defence: what is known about his career, wealth, and activities during the war

Denys Shmyhal is the record holder for the longest tenure as Prime Minister of Ukraine. Already in July this year, he may receive a new position in the Cabinet and head the Ministry of Defence.

Read a brief biography and interesting facts about Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in the material on Channel 24.

Where did he get his education?

Denys Shmyhal was born and educated in Lviv. He also received higher education in his hometown.

In 1997, Shmyhal received a red diploma as an engineer-economist from the Lviv Polytechnic State University.

In 2003, he was awarded the academic degree of Candidate of Economic Sciences. He defended his dissertation on regional economics and the placement of productive forces.

Shmyhal also interned and studied abroad, particularly in Germany under the manager preparation program of the Ministry of Economy and Energy of Germany.

What was his career path?

While still a student, Denys Shmyhal worked as a manager at LLC "O’Key" and as an accountant in the department of non-trading operations of the foreign exchange management at JSC "Elektronbank".

In the 2000s, he was engaged in business and held managerial positions in various Lviv companies and factories.

In 2009, he became the head of the department of economics, investment, industry, and trade at the Lviv Regional State Administration. Two years later, he started to lead the public organization "Institute of Regional Development".

In 2014, Shmyhal worked as the deputy head of the regional department of the Tax Service. A few years later, he resigned and became Vice President and General Director of the company "Lvivkholod", a network of "Rukavychka" stores.

In January 2018, Shmyhal took the position of director of Burshtyn TPP, the largest power producer in the region, owned by the oligarch Rinat Akhmetov’s holding. The enterprise is located in the Ivano-Frankivsk region.

How did his political activity begin?

In 2014, Shmyhal ran for a seat in the Verkhovna Rada in the electoral district No. 121 (Lviv region). He was an independent candidate, not affiliated with any party. The candidate received the least voter support among competitors, only 188 votes.

In 2015, he also ran for the Lviv Regional Council from the "People’s Control" party.

In June 2019, Shmyhal became one of the three candidates for the position of Lviv Regional State Administration. However, the President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed lawyer Markiyan Malskyi to this position.

Denys Shmyhal during the appointment of Malskyi as head of the Lviv Regional State Administration

What is known about his work as the head of Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration?

During the presentation of Malsky in Lviv, Zelenskyy announced that he would appoint Denys Shmyhal as the head of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration.

On August 2, the head of state introduced Shmyhal in Ivano-Frankivsk and called him a very powerful manager.

Denys Shmyhal with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy / photo from Facebook

Shmyhal worked in this position for 6 months. At the end of December, he reported to Zelenskyy on the socio-economic development of the region during 100 days of his work:

540 kilometers of roads were repaired in the region;
Bridge restoration is ongoing. Almost a thousand of them are in unsatisfactory condition;
The region received 5 new ambulances;
Plans include the repair of kindergartens and schools, with funds coming from the State Fund for Regional Development;
94 apartments were purchased for ATO/OOS participants;
The reconstruction of the airport in Ivano-Frankivsk is ongoing and is expected to be completed in 2.5 years;
Total electronic timber accounting, from chipping to auctions, has been implemented.

What were the achievements during his time at the Ministry of Community Development?

On February 4, the parliament voted to appoint Shmyhal as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Community and Territorial Development. This happened following the dismissal of Alyona Babak from the corresponding position.

"The key directions and priorities of the Ministry of Regional Development this year are to complete the reform of the territorial administrative structure. I’m glad to join Oleksiy Honcharuk’s team. Thank you for the trust, Mr. President and the people of Ukraine," said Shmyhal on the day of his appointment.

The official added that he paid attention in the Cabinet to three main areas of work:

completion of decentralization;
reform of housing and utilities;
reforming the construction sector.

Shmyhal worked as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Community and Territorial Development for exactly a month. Therefore, it is difficult to speak of serious results in his work.

What is known about his appointment as head of the government?

Denys Shmyhal became Prime Minister of Ukraine on March 4, 2020. His candidacy was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the MPs supported the decision with 291 votes in favor.

Before his appointment, Shmyhal emphasized that he would carry out on the position of Prime Minister the tasks that President Zelenskyy had set for the previous Cabinet.

"None of us came for decades, each of us understands the responsibility. The expectations of the citizens are huge, patience is running out, reforms are needed yesterday, and results are needed today," said Shmyhal.

The politician also outlined the main challenges and work plans of the government under his leadership:

continuation of decentralization;
creation of a favorable investment climate;
to achieve energy efficiency;
strengthening the economic sector: developing industry, agriculture, and infrastructure;
improving the quality of medicine and education, increasing the level of information provision to Ukrainians;
review the budget for 2020 - payments and pensions;
reduce spending on officials;
settle debts to miners;
strengthening national security and defense;
ending the war in Donbas and returning annexed Crimea.

What is stated in Shmyhal’s declaration?

Shmyhal submitted his declaration on March 4, 2020, before his appointment as Prime Minister of Ukraine. It contains data for 2019.

In 2019, Shmyhal earned 3.4 million hryvnias. Of this, 230 thousand was the salary for the head of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration, and over 3 million was the salary of the director of the Burshtyn TPP and also as a consultant at LLC "DTEK Vostokenergo".

In addition, the Shmyhal family held 235,000 dollars in cash.

Shmyhal’s and his family’s real estate:

A residential house with an area of 215 square meters in Lviv;
a garage with an area of 15.9 square meters in Lviv;
2 land plots with areas of 151, 458 square meters in Lviv;
a land plot with an area of 2200 square meters in the village of Khorosnytsia, Mostyska district, Lviv region;
a non-residential building with an area of 417.2 square meters in Kamianka-Buzka in Lviv region.

Interestingly, Shmyhal does not own any cars.

At the same time, Shmyhal declared 1 million 160 thousand hryvnias for the year 2024. He specified his only source of income as salary.

Interestingly, his wife, Kateryna Shmyhal, declared 8.5 million hryvnias of income in 2024. In particular:

7.4 million hryvnias - income from business activities;
35 thousand hryvnias - pension;
24 thousand hryvnias - salary;
994 thousand hryvnias - income from the sale of movable property. (This probably refers to a 2016 Land Rover car featured in the previous declaration).

In addition, in 2024, she founded her own company "Kadis UA". The main type of activity is "Providing rental and exploitation of real estate".

Shmyhal stores 140 thousand dollars in cash and 207 thousand hryvnias in a bank. His wife Kateryna also has savings. It amounts to 242 thousand dollars and 254 thousand hryvnias in cash, as well as 626.9 thousand hryvnias in two bank accounts.

Note that Shmyhal also indicated his daughter Sofia’s savings - over 3 thousand hryvnias - in his declaration.

Shmyhal and his wife each have one plot of land (2200 square meters each) in the village of Khorosnytsia in Lviv region. Kateryna Shmyhal also owns a land plot (151 square meters), a house (215.9 square meters), and a garage (17.7 square meters) in Lviv. Another land plot in Lviv belongs to her by 25% (area of 458 square meters).

What was Shmyhal’s activity during the full-scale invasion?

With the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Denys Shmyhal remained in the post of Prime Minister and continued to perform his duties during the war.

Notably, Shmyhal holds the record for the longest tenure as Prime Minister among all heads of government in independent Ukraine (over 5 years).

Back in September 2021, he advocated for the introduction of dual citizenship, excluding Russia. He considered this a step towards strengthening the state, but the initiative was not supported at the time.

After the start of the aggression, Shmyhal repeatedly emphasized the threats posed by Russia. In February 2023, the Prime Minister strongly opposed any truce with the aggressor country. In his opinion, this will only be possible after deep changes within Russia itself.

Under Shmyhal’s leadership, the government submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a bill banning religious organizations associated with Russia.

In May 2024, Shmyhal announced the start of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union and NATO, and in June he confirmed that Kyiv had begun accession talks.

In addition, in August 2025, the Prime Minister presented a new initiative "Fight or Work", which provides a series of measures to restore the labor market from the shadows. In October, Shmyhal announced the start of the "Made in Ukraine" program to support business. As part of the initiative, entrepreneurs received loans worth 335 billion hryvnias under the "5-7-9" program.

What is known about the possible appointment as Minister of Defence of Ukraine?

In his evening address on July 14, Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed Denys Shmyhal for the position of Minister of Defense of Ukraine.

"Denys Shmyhal’s colossal experience will definitely be beneficial in the position of Minister of Defence of Ukraine — at this time, this area involves maximum national resources, maximum tasks, and a lot of responsibility. I count on sufficient support from the people’s deputies for the new Ukrainian government configuration," Zelenskyy stated.

Moreover, the Ukrainian leader has already held a meeting with First Deputy Prime Minister Yuliya Svyrydenko, during which he proposed her to head the Cabinet of Ministers.

It should be noted that the new cabinet is planned to be appointed on July 17, with the vote on the dismissal of the previous one scheduled for July 16.