Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that he planned to replace the head of the country’s SBU security service, Vasyl Maliuk, as part of a wider reshuffle that has also seen the appointment of a new presidential chief of staff.
Mr Maliuk was appointed SBU chief in February 2023, having already served as acting head for months before.
During his tenure, the service has carried out a number of high-profile operations, including an audacious drone attack on dozens of Russian strategic bombers stationed thousands of kilometres from Ukraine.
The SBU said he also oversaw a strike on a Russian submarine and three attacks on the bridge connecting Russia to the occupied Crimean peninsula, a crucial logistical node for Moscow.
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The moves comes as work on security guarantees for Ukraine is progressing within the framework of the “coalition of the willing”, a European Commission spokesperson said on Monday, in advance of a meeting of the group on Tuesday in Paris.
US president Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will represent the United States at talks on Ukraine in Paris this week, a White House official said on Monday.
Mr Maliuk, meanwhile, has been praised by analysts for improving the SBU’s effectiveness, after his predecessor Ivan Bakanov was dismissed by Mr Zelenskiy in July 2022 for failing to root out Russian spies.
Mr Zelenskiy said on X that he had asked Mr Maliuk instead to focus more on combat operations, adding: “There must be more Ukrainian asymmetric operations against the occupier and the Russian state, and more solid results in eliminating the enemy.”
The move comes days after Mr Zelenskiy announced military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov would become his new chief of staff.
Mr Zelenskiy also proposed a new defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, who he said should focus on technology and innovation once parliament has confirmed him in the role, as it is expected to do.
“In a week, Mykhailo will present the necessary draft decisions,” Mr Zelenskiy said, adding that he expected Ukraine’s legislature to support his proposals.
Mr Zelenskiy also said on Monday he had appointed Canada’s former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland as his economic development adviser, citing her experience in attracting investment.
“Right now, Ukraine needs to strengthen its internal resilience – both for the sake of Ukraine’s recovery if diplomacy delivers results as swiftly as possible, and to reinforce our defence if, because of delays by our partners, it takes longer to bring this war to an end,” Mr Zelenskiy wrote on X.
Ms Freeland, who has Ukrainian ancestry, was Canada’s deputy prime minister between 2019 and 2024. She is a serving lawmaker in the Canadian parliament, and is also Ottawa’s special envoy to Ukraine.
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An overnight Russian air attack on Kyiv and its region, meanwhile, killed two people in what appeared to be the first reported deaths in Russian strikes on the Ukrainian capital this year.
Ukraine’s state emergency service said the strike set ablaze a medical facility in the Obolonskyi district in Kyiv’s northern sector, where an inpatient ward was operating. After the fire was extinguished, a body was found inside, the service added.
A woman was also injured and 25 people were evacuated, the service said on the Telegram messaging app.
It released a night-time photo showing emergency responders carrying a body on a stretcher past an ambulance outside a building, with snow on the ground.
Russia also hit towns and villages across the Kyiv region, damaging homes and critical infrastructure, and killing a civilian in the Fastiv district, just southwest of the capital, the region’s governor Mykola Kalashnyk said on Telegram.
Small parts of the region were left without power, Mr Kalashnyk added.
There was no immediate comment from Russia. Both sides deny targeting civilians in their attacks.
– Reuters
