Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has replaced the head of Ukraine's Security Service, continuing the large-scale personnel changes he initiated last week. The new change came a day before today's summit in Paris of Ukraine's allies from the so-called “Coalition of the Willing“, world agencies reported. Zelensky will participate in that meeting, BTA reports.
In the biggest top-level shakeup in Ukraine in about six months, Lieutenant General Vasyl Malyuk, head of the Security Service, announced his resignation on the agency's website. Zelensky published a decree on the presidential website appointing Yevgen Khmara, former head of the Security Service's Special Operations Center, as acting head of the agency. Under Malyuk, the SBU has achieved some impressive successes against Russia, including Operation Spider Web, which Ukraine said damaged or destroyed 41 Russian warplanes in coordinated strikes on four Russian air bases.
A senior Ukrainian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that Malyuk had been offered the chance to head the smaller Foreign Intelligence Service instead of the SBU, but he declined. The Foreign Intelligence Service is currently without a head after its previous chief was appointed to head Ukraine’s military intelligence. The head of the border service has also been replaced, another sign of the sweeping changes underway in the security and defense sector.
Mykhailo Fedorov, Zelensky’s pick for new defense minister, announced on Friday, has yet to be approved by Ukraine’s parliament, Reuters added. Yesterday, Zelensky said he wanted him to focus on technology and innovation to “counteract Russia’s desire to make this war endless.”
On Friday, Zelensky also appointed the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, as his new chief of staff. Announcing Budanov’s appointment at the time, Zelensky said Ukraine should focus on security issues, the development of defense and security forces, and peace negotiations — areas that are overseen by the presidential administration.
Zelensky said he met with Budanov yesterday to discuss ways to reduce Russia’s advantage stemming from its larger armed forces. “Russia has one significant advantage in this war, namely the ability to put pressure on Ukraine through the scale of strikes and the scale of attacks,” he wrote on social media. "We can and must respond with more active use of technology, faster development of new types of weapons and new tactics," Zelensky said.
Zelensky is seeking to revamp his administration as the war of attrition with Russia enters its fourth anniversary next month. He is determined to maintain the momentum of U.S.-led peace talks and to strengthen Ukraine's focus on defense in case those efforts fail, the Associated Press notes.
Zelensky is also seeking to strengthen the war-torn economy, including through partnership projects with the United States and other countries. He announced the appointment of former Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland as Ukraine's economic development adviser, describing her as an expert with "significant experience in attracting investment and implementing economic transformations." Freeland, who is of Ukrainian descent and a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is a former journalist and Canadian MP. In addition to being a former deputy prime minister of Canada, she has served as minister of international trade, foreign minister and finance minister, and has been involved in negotiating trade agreements with both Europe and the United States. A graduate of Harvard University, Freeland has also served as Canada's special representative for the reconstruction of Ukraine and as a Canadian MP.
Freeland, however, has had disagreements with U.S. President Donald Trump that could hurt Ukraine. During Trump's first term, Freeland played a key role in negotiating the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement, but she has irritated Trump's aides with her tactics. During Trump's first meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office last year, the American leader recalled his dislike of Freeland. "She was a terrible, truly terrible person," Trump said at the time. When Freeland left the office of former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Trump wrote on social media that "her behavior was completely toxic."
An opposition lawmaker in Canada has now argued that Freeland cannot be a member of the country's parliament and work as an advisor to a foreign government at the same time.