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Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reshuffled his top intelligence and national security chiefs, the second personnel shake-up this year aimed at reinvigorating Ukraine’s war effort and turning the momentum in its favour.
The Ukrainian president dismissed Oleksiy Danilov, head of the national security and defence council, and replaced him with foreign intelligence chief Oleksandr Lytvynenko, according to decrees published on the presidential website on Tuesday.
Oleh Ivashchenko will replace Lytvynenko as chief of foreign intelligence, according to the site. Ivashchenko previously served as deputy head of the military intelligence directorate (GUR), whose aerial and sea drone attacks on high-value targets have rankled the Kremlin.
“Today I continued rebooting the system of managing our state,” Zelenskyy said later on Tuesday. “I appointed Oleksandr Lytvynenko as the new secretary of the national security council. He will combine his experience of leading the Foreign Intelligence Service with the tasks facing the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.”
“In general, I expect the strengthening of the strategic capabilities of our state to predict and influence the processes on which the national security of our state depends. The strengthening of Ukraine and the renewal of our state system in all directions will be continued.”
The 51-year-old Lytvynenko had served as foreign intelligence chief since July 2021. A veteran national security and intelligence official, the multilingual Lytvynenko is widely respected among his western and Ukrainian counterparts. The shake-up now has him returning to the NSDC, where he previously served as the agency’s chief.
Zelenskyy’s personnel change comes a little more than a month after he dismissed the commander-in-chief of the armed forces Valeriy Zaluzhny, with whom he had disagreements. Zaluzhny has since been tapped by the president to serve as Ukraine’s ambassador in London.
The Ukrainian president has asserted that the changes in his defence, intelligence and security apparatus are needed to reboot Ukraine’s war effort after its unsuccessful counteroffensive last year and as it faces significant challenges, including exhausted troops, a shortage of manpower and dwindling ammunition.
Danilov, 61, had served in the post since October 2019 and the president gave no reason for his sacking. But officials close to Zelenskyy told the Financial Times in February that the president was considering his dismissal as part of a broader reshuffle.
In a post on Facebook, Danilov thanked Zelenskyy “for his trust” and “for giving me the opportunity to serve my country and my people in times of peace and war”. Danilov had a penchant for colourful statements that analysts had noted sometimes blurred fact and fiction. He will be moved to another role to be announced later.
Russian forces have regained the strategic initiative on the battlefield and are pressing ahead with attacks at five key points along the 1,000km frontline a month after their capture of the coking city of Avdiivka.
Zelenskyy has ordered the construction of new, heavily fortified defensive lines stretching 2,000km in order to keep back the Russians.
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