Zelenskyy appoints Alpha special unit commander Khmara as new Security Service head
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appointed Yevhenii Khmara, head of the Special Operations Center "A" of the Security Service of Ukraine, as acting head of the SBU, according to the presidential decree.
Before that, the president held a personal meeting with Major General Khmara.
"I had a meeting with Yevhenii Khmara, Head of the Center of Special Operations ‘A’ of the Security Service of Ukraine. I am grateful to Yevhenii and to all our special operations warriors for their exceptionally important combat operations throughout the years of the full-scale war. Ukraine is achieving the necessary results in its defense, and all our warriors who make this possible deserve the highest respect and gratitude. We will scale up the experience of Ukrainian special operations forces and the CSO ‘A’ of the Security Service of Ukraine. Today, Yevhenii and I also discussed additional opportunities for the institutional development of the Security Service of Ukraine and the special operations we are currently preparing," the president wrote.
Earlier, Zelenskyy met with SBU head Vasyl Maliuk, who will now focus on combat work within the SBU system.
Background
After media reports that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to dismiss SBU head Vasyl Maliuk and appoint him head of the Foreign Intelligence Service or secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, several servicemen spoke out against it.
When journalists asked Zelenskyy about dismissing Maliuk and the military's reaction, he replied: "I respect everyone, I will make the rotations I decided to make."
According to UP, Vasyl Maliuk initially refused to leave the position, arguing that he has several operations on the scale of "Spiderweb" in the final stages and abandoning them now would be criminal. But he eventually agreed.
Overall, Zelenskyy announced a reboot in the Cabinet of Ministers, law enforcement agencies, the Defense Ministry system and the Armed Forces. The president explained that he is now conducting a "major reboot" of all structures in case Russia does not want to take the diplomatic path to end the war and Ukraine has to continue defending itself, for which "fresh forces" are needed.
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