Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday replaced the head of Ukraine’s security service, continuing a top-level reshuffle ahead of a trip to Paris where he hoped to finalize agreements with allies on how to prevent Russia from repeating its invasion if a peace agreement is signed.
Zelenskyy also named Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s former deputy prime minister, as Ukraine’s economic development adviser, seeking to strengthen the war-battered economy alongside efforts tied to defense and security.
Amid what the AP described as Ukraine’s biggest top-level reshuffle in about six months, Lt. Gen. Vasyl Maliuk, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, announced his resignation on the agency’s website. Zelenskyy then published a decree appointing Ievhen Khmara, former head of the “A” Special Operations Center of the security service, as acting head.
The AP said the reshuffle comes as Ukraine tries to maintain momentum for U.S.-led peace talks, including efforts involving a “coalition of the willing” expected to include leaders of about 30 countries. The report said those talks were expected to center on what security guarantees could look like in the future, including whether participating countries would deploy troops inside or close to Ukraine and what the remit of any force overseeing a ceasefire might be.
Russia has said it will not accept troops from NATO countries on Ukrainian soil, according to the AP report. Other issues outlined in the Paris agenda included how any force would be tasked with overseeing a ceasefire, in the context of a proposed U.S.-brokered peace deal that Zelenskyy said in his New Year’s address was “90% ready,” with the remaining 10% — believed to include issues such as the future of disputed territory — expected to determine the outcome of the push for peace.
Zelenskyy also said the war’s fighting has not subsided along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line that snakes through southern and eastern Ukraine. The AP report said Moscow had restated its demands and insisted there can be no ceasefire until a comprehensive settlement is agreed.
In parallel with the security-service change, Zelenskyy announced last week that Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, would become his new chief of staff. The AP said Zelenskyy told Ukrainians that the office of the president oversees security-focused work, including developing defense and security forces and supporting peace talks, and that he met with Budanov on Monday to look for ways to reduce Russia’s advantage in larger armed forces.
On social media, Zelenskyy said Russia has “one significant advantage in this war,” describing it as the ability to pressure Ukraine through “the scale of strikes” and “the scale of assaults.” He said Ukraine “must respond with more active use of technology, faster development of new types of weapons, new tactics.”
The AP report also tied Maliuk’s tenure to the security service’s Operation Spiderweb, which Ukraine said damaged or destroyed 41 Russian military aircraft in coordinated strikes on four air bases. Zelenskyy’s reshuffle, the report said, was intended to keep up momentum on the peace track while sharpening Ukraine’s defense focus if talks collapse.
Freeland’s appointment, according to the AP, puts a Canadian lawmaker with Ukrainian heritage into an advisory role aimed at attracting investment and supporting economic transformation. The report said she has served as Canada’s special representative for the reconstruction of Ukraine, a post outside the Cabinet, and that she is a strong critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The AP said Freeland and former U.S. President Donald Trump have had a sometimes-fraught relationship, including Trump recalling his antipathy for Freeland during a meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney and describing her negatively after she left Justin Trudeau’s Cabinet.
The security and diplomatic moves were accompanied by continuing reports of strikes. The capital’s prosecutor’s office said a Russian drone strike at a private clinic in Kyiv’s Obolon district killed a 30-year-old patient and injured three others. Zelenskyy said energy workers and repair crews worked across the country after Russian drones damaged energy infrastructure, contributing to more power disruptions for civilians during winter, while the air force said Russia fired nine ballistic missiles and 165 long-range drones overnight.
Separately, the AP reported that a Ukrainian drone sparked a fire at an industrial facility in Yelets in Russia’s western Lipetsk region, with Gov. Igor Artamonov saying there were no casualties. It also said Russian authorities briefly suspended flights at the airports in Ivanovo, Nizhny Novgorod and Yaroslavl because of Ukrainian drone attacks, and that Russia’s Defense Ministry later reported downing another 50 Ukrainian drones over Belgorod, Kursk and Lipetsk regions.