Ukraine’s Top Security Official Resigns Amid Zelenskyy’s Wartime Defense Shakeup

Ukraine is reshaping its defense and intelligence leadership and operations as U.S.-backed peace efforts and pressure from Russia continue.

Vasyl Malyuk, head of Ukraine’s Security Service, speaks at a forum in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Feb. 25, 2024. Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images

Ukraine’s top security chief, Vasyl Malyuk, has stepped down as head of the Security Service of Ukraine, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accelerates a broader wartime reshuffle of senior defense, security, and diplomatic leadership.

Zelenskyy signed a decree on Jan. 5 appointing Yevhen Khmara, head of the Security Service’s elite special operations unit known as Center “A,” to serve as acting chief of the Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU.