The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine yesterday voted to support the resignation of Oleksandr Tkachenko, Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, Ukrainian Pravda reports. A total of 321 MPs voted in favor of his resignation.

The decision came despite the fact that earlier the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy did not support the resignation of Tkachenko as Minister of Culture and Information Policy, leaving this decision to the discretion of the session hall.

Today, an acting minister of culture should be appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers.

Tkachenko's resignation was filed last Friday after President Zelensky called on Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to appoint a new culture minister.

Despite public calls, Oleksandr Tkachenko said that spending more than 500 million hryvnias [approximately US$13.5 million] from the state budget during the war to complete the construction of the National Museum of the Holodomor Genocide of the Ukrainian people is "appropriate". This outraged the public, as did the idea of replacing the USSR coat of arms with the Ukrainian coat of arms on the shield of the Motherland Monument. Many called on the authorities to invest only in victory and vital areas, the reconstruction of damaged infrastructure, healthcare and education – not in museums, monuments, pedestrian bridges and paving, which can be done without while the war is ongoing.

The Ministry of Culture also allocated 448 million hryvnias [approximately US$12 million] for the production of television films. The ministry confused the public by claiming that the revival of series production was "a matter of state information and cultural security".