Russia-Ukraine conflict: Zelenskyy appoints corruption department head as acting Security Service chief

In the midst of Russia’s continued bombardment of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made significant changes in key personnel. Following his abrupt suspension of two top officials, Zelenskyy appointed the head of the corruption department to become his new acting security head.

Reuters reports that Zelenskyy signed a decree appointing Vasyl Maliuk to become the new acting head of the State Security Service. The appointment comes a day after Zelenskyy suspended Maliuk’s predecessor, Ivan Bakanov, who is also the Ukrainian leader’s childhood friend.

Bakanov was dismissed from his post for failing to root out treason within the State Security Service. Maliuk was the first deputy chief of the SBU since March of 2020 and led the Main Directorate for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime of the SBU’s Central Directorate.

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova was also suspended Sunday. Zelenskyy cited the dozens of cases of collaboration with Russia by officials in her office and in the SBU.

The deputy head of the presidential office Andriy Smyrnov said in televised remarks that Bakanov and Venediktova might eventually return to their positions if the ongoing investigations into their respective prove that they did not commit any wrongdoing.

The Ukrainian Parliament also voted to accept the resignation of its Social Policy minister Maryna Lazebna Monday.

Lazebna did not explain her reasons for stepping down, having handed her resignation last week. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal thanked Lazebna for her work since taking on her post in March of 2020.

It remains to be seen who would be replacing Lazebna, but opposition deputy Yaroslav Zhelezniak said Zelenskyy was expected to appoint a replacement from the presidential office.

Following the major personnel changes, the United States said it will continue providing Kyiv with intelligence.

“We are in daily contact with our Ukrainian partners…We invest not in personalities, we invest in institutions,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters during a briefing.

“We do have an intelligence-sharing relationship with our Ukrainian counterparts…We continue to proceed ahead with that.”

At the time, Zelenskyy said, over 60 officials from the SBU and the prosecutor general’s office were found to be collaborating with Moscow in Russian-occupied territories, with 651 treason cases opened against law enforcement officials.