Zelensky dismisses Secretary of Ukraine's Security Council

DPA
·1 min read
23
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a press conference at the German Chancellery. Zelensky categorically rejected attempts by Russian President Vladimir Putin to blame Kiev for a terrorist attack near Moscow on Friday. "After what happened yesterday in Moscow, Putin and the other bastards are of course just trying to put the blame on someone else," Zelensky said in his daily video address on 23 March Saturday evening. Kay Nietfeld/dpa
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed the Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, Olexiy Danilov, on Tuesday.

Danilov will be replaced by the previous head of the foreign intelligence service, Olexander Lytynenko. The 21-member Security Council includes members of the government, the heads of the secret services, as well as the Prosecutor General, the head of the Central Bank and the President of the Academy of Sciences.

The Council discusses national security issues under the chairmanship of the President. The Secretary primarily fulfils organizational tasks and reports directly to the head of state.

Oleh Ivashchenko was appointed as the new head of the foreign intelligence service. He was previously deputy head of military intelligence. The moves follow a recent shake-up of Ukraine's army leadership.

The reasons for Danilov's dismissal were not disclosed. However, he had publicly insulted the Chinese mediator Li Hui on Ukrainian television news just under a week ago. Hui recently travelled to Kiev and Moscow to explore possibilities for a peace agreement between the warring parties. Ukraine has been fending off a Russian invasion for over two years with Western help.