Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fired this Tuesday the secretary of the National Defense and Security Council, Oleksiy Danilov, whose position will be occupied by the until now head of the external intelligence service, Oleksandr Litvinenko.
According to decrees signed by Zelensky, Oleg Ivashchenko, who was previously deputy head of military intelligence (GUR), will take over the position left vacant by Litvinenko.
Danilov was appointed secretary of the National Security and Defense Council on October 3, 2019, while Livtinenko has led external intelligence since July 23, 2021.
Zelensky did not reveal the reasons for Danilov’s dismissal.
In 2022, news published in the Ukrainian press reported growing conflicts with Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andrii Yermak, and a series of other close collaborators of the President.
Among the most recent and most prominent changes introduced by Zelensky is the dismissal, on February 8, of Valeriy Zaluzhni as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, after contradicting the President in several public statements.
The position was handed over to Oleksandr Sirski, until then commander of the Land Forces.
At the time, in an interview with the Lusa agency, Oleksiy Danilov considered that the controversial replacement of Valery Zaluzhnyi was a response to new challenges, with the intact objective of beating Russia.
For the then senior Ukrainian official, the departure of the military leader, who maintained great popularity and was criticized by several sectors of the opposition, should be framed by a phase in which “new challenges and new tasks” posed by the Russian invasion, which began in February 24, 2022.
In the same interview, the then secretary of the National Defense and Security Council stated that Ukrainian forces were facing a “very difficult” moment and needed “weapons, weapons, weapons”, warning that “waiting influences the situation” of the conflict.
“If anyone thinks that the front line is easy, they are people who don’t understand war”, he argued to Lusa at the time, highlighting that “Russia was receiving help from North Korea and Iran and this led to some changes in the situation”.
