Zelensky announces new purges in Ukraine's SBU
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has ordered new personnel purges in the apparatus of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
He announced this in his Telegram channel following a meeting with acting head of the SBU Oleksandr Poklad.
"I approved with the head of the SBU further steps to clean up the service's internal structure," Zelensky wrote.
Oleksandr Poklad was appointed acting head of the SBU on July 17. Before that, he held the position of first deputy head of the agency. In the post of head of the service, he replaced Yevhen Khmara, who was appointed acting defense minister of Ukraine.
On July 30, Zelensky replaced the heads of regional SBU departments in eight regions of the country at once — Zhytomyr, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Sumy, Ternopil, Cherkasy and Chernivtsi. In addition, he appointed a new head of the SBU's Center for Special Operations (CSO) — this post was taken by Brigadier General Oleh Fedoriv.
On July 22, Zelensky dismissed the head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Andriy Hnatov, and appointed Ihor Skybiuk in his place. This happened after a change of the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army — instead of Oleksandr Syrskyi, the post was taken by Mykhailo Drapatyi.
