Volodymyr Zelenskyi dismissed Serhii Shefir from the post of first assistant to the President of Ukraine. The corresponding decree No. 207/2024 was published on the website of the Office of the President.
In addition, Zelensky dismissed Mykhailo Radutskyi, Serhiy Trofimov and Oleg Ustenko from the duties of his freelance advisers. Also, Zelensky dismissed Nataliya Pushkaryova from the duties of the authorized head of state for volunteer activities, and Alyona Verbytska from the position of adviser - authorized president of Ukraine for ensuring the rights of defenders of Ukraine.
What is known about the dismissed? Serhiy Shefir is an old friend and business partner of Zelensky, co-owner of the Kvartal 95 studio. He held the position of first assistant to the head of state since May 21, 2019. According to the media, it was Zelenskyi who transferred his share of "Kvartal 95" to him on the eve of the 2019 presidential elections. In September 2021, an attempt was made on Shefir - his car was fired at from a machine gun in the Kyiv region, the driver was wounded, Shefir himself was not injured. The President's Office linked the attack on Shefir with the law on deoligarchization.
Mykhailo Radutskyi became a freelance adviser to the president on July 30, 2019. He is a people's deputy from the "Servant of the People" party and the president of the "Borys" clinic. Previously, in 2014-2015, he was an adviser to the head of the KMDA Vitaliy Klitschko. In 2013, an episode of the Russian TV show "Battle of Psychics" featuring Radutsky was released, in which the participants tried to "read the thoughts from his head."
Serhiy Trofimov has been an adviser to Zelenskyi since November 4, 2020, and before that, until November, he was the first deputy head of the President's Office and was responsible for regional policy. Even earlier, he worked as an executive producer of the "Kvartal-95" studio.
Oleg Ustenko has been an adviser to the head of state since May 28, 2019. He is an economist and a member of the supervisory board of the international Blazer Foundation. In 2014, he was the director of the Center for World Economy and International Relations of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. He is also a member of the National Investment Council.
Nataliya Pushkaryova has been in the position of authorized president for volunteer activities since December 4, 2019. In the fall of 2023, volunteers criticized her for inactivity. They tried to get the official removed with the help of a petition to the president.
Alyona Verbytska was appointed to the position on October 13, 2021. Before that, she was engaged in human rights activities in the security and defense sector. Verbytska is also the head of the Advisory Council on Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Defenders of Ukraine.
It is obvious that the president decided to inject new blood into the team, which could become banally burnt out and lose efficiency over the years of hard work. In addition, in 2019, people definitely came to power, pursuing their goals, in which the war made significant adjustments. Therefore, it is not excluded that all those dismissed were dismissed of their own free will. Another question is who will come to the vacated positions.
