Cabinet promotes Verbytskyi to First Deputy Minister of Culture and appoints new deputy minister
The Cabinet of Ministers promoted Deputy Minister of Culture Ivan Verbytskyi to First Deputy Minister and appointed Yevhen Lavro as the new Deputy Minister of Culture. This is stated in Decrees No. 384 and No. 385 dated April 29, according to the Ukrainian News agency.
Verbytskyi, 31, has served as Deputy Minister of Culture since September 2025.
From 2019 to 2024, he served as director of the Cedos analytical center, which studies urban life and the environment; from 2015 to 2019, he was editor and head of the Ukrainian urban platform Mistosite; and from 2018 to 2019, he was a project manager and curator of the Ukrainian Urban Forum.
Verbytskyi is openly gay and an LGBTQ activist; in June 2019, he publicly announced his sexual orientation on his Facebook page and became actively involved in the LGBTQ movement, notably by helping to organize KyivPride.
Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy and Minister of Culture Tetiana Berezhna announced on Facebook that, as First Deputy Minister, Verbytskyi will continue to oversee cultural heritage initiatives, including: evacuation of cultural heritage, return of looted cultural property, coordination of museums and nature reserves, and coordination of the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Fund.
According to Berezhna, Lavro will develop the areas of art, arts education, and creative industries, with key tasks including reforming the remuneration of cultural sector employees and strengthening the institutional capacity of cultural institutions.
Lavro previously headed the Department of Arts and Creative Industries at the Ministry of Culture.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, in October 2025, the Verkhovna Rada appointed Tetiana Berezhna, acting Minister of Culture, as Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy and Minister of Culture.
In November 2025, the Cabinet of Ministers appointed Bohdana Laiuk as Deputy Minister of Culture; she is responsible for state policy in the field of book publishing and language policy.