A source in the President's Office said that personnel reshuffles are an intermediate stage before the introduction of new legitimacy. Andrii Yermak is preparing to restart the Cabinet, probably with the aim of avoiding external influence on the processes after May 20.
Personnel changes have recently taken place in the Office of the President and the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. It all started with the change of the secretary of the National Security Council, and it reached the first assistant to the president.
On Tuesday, March 26, Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a decree dismissing Oleksiy Danilov from the position of NSDC secretary, appointing Oleksandr Lytvynenko, former head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, in his place, and Oleg Ivashchenko was appointed to Lytvynenko's position.
The president explained that these changes are aimed at updating the department, in particular, to strengthen cooperation with intelligence.
After Danilov's release, he remained part of the ruling team. Yesterday, March 29, Zelenskyi announced that the ex-Secretary of the National Security Council will receive the position of ambassador to Moldova, but the relevant decree has not yet been issued.
Also on Friday, March 29, decrees were published on the dismissal of two advisers to the head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak. Olena Kovalska and Iryna Mudra received their positions.
However, it was not over. Today, Zelensky dismissed Serhii Shefir from the post of first assistant.
Also today, the freelance advisers of the president, the president's commissioner for defenders' rights and the commissioner for volunteer activities lost their positions.
Serhii Nikiforov, the president's spokesman, explained that personnel changes are related to staff optimization.
We will remind that Volodymyr Zelenskyi previously did not rule out changes in the composition of the government team in order to save money for defense. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal also noted that the number of ministries may be reduced by a third.
