President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree appointing Oleksiy Sobolev as deputy head of the Presidential Office for economics. Decree No. 674/2026 has already been published on the president's website, while Sobolev himself was still heading the Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture on Thursday morning.
For an entrepreneur or investor seeking a stable interlocutor in power, this marks the third change in Sobolev's economic portfolio within a year: from leading a mega-ministry, he became curator of the economic bloc in the Presidential Office, while the direction itself was split into two separate departments.
What Changes in Substance
According to Zelenskyy, "We agreed that Oleksiy Sobolev will coordinate work with partners to develop and fill with real content the plan for Ukraine's reconstruction after the war". The president explained the logic of the appointment by the need to support business activity during the war.
Officially, the new deputy head of the Presidential Office "will focus on the Office's team in the economic direction and will work in coordination with Prime Minister Sergiy Koretskyi, Economy Minister Oleksandr Kravchenko, other government officials, and regional and local authorities". In other words, formally Sobolev does not manage the economy directly — he coordinates those who do.
Why the Position Remained Vacant for Nearly a Year
The position of deputy for economics in the Presidential Office has been vacant since Rostyslav Shurma's dismissal in September 2024, and Shurma now faces criminal suspicion and is a wanted person. For the business community accustomed to having a direct communication channel with the Presidential Office on economic matters, nearly a year without such a curator meant having to address issues through scattered contacts in the government.
News of Sobolev's possible return to the Office became known on July 16 — the president announced it at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. So the decision was prepared in advance, not as a reaction to something urgent.
Who is Sobolev and Where Does His Ambition for a Reconstruction Plan Come From
Before entering politics, Sobolev managed the Prozorro.Sale project at Transparency International Ukraine from 2016–2018, and from 2018 headed the state enterprise "Prozorro.Sales". In 2023, he became deputy economy minister for digital development, and last summer — first deputy economy minister, before heading the mega-ministry itself on July 17, 2025.
After the formation of the new government led by Koretskyi, the economic giant was split: the agricultural direction went to Taras Vysotskyi, who was Sobolev's deputy, while economy and environment were headed by Oleksandr Kravchenko, managing partner of McKinsey's Kyiv office. Sobolev found no position in the new government — and that is why he ended up in the Presidential Office.
Sobolev thanked Zelenskyy for his trust in his Telegram channel, stating that he "will be honored to work for Ukraine".
What This Means for the Reconstruction Plan
Ukraine's post-war reconstruction plan is a document that will determine where billions in donor and investment assistance will go: from infrastructure rebuilding to support for production. If Sobolev truly coordinates its filling with "real content," as Zelenskyy said, then decisions about priorities — which industries and regions will receive funding first and which will wait — will go through this position.
The question is only whether this role will become a real lever of influence or another curatorial position without power — after all, over the past year, the economic bloc of power has already experienced the merger of a mega-ministry, then its division, and now is returning one of the architects of these changes back to the Presidential Office. How stable this format will prove to be by the end of the year will be shown by the first practical test: whether a public version of the reconstruction plan with specific figures, rather than framework declarations, will appear by autumn.
