KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday dismissed Vasyl Maliuk, the powerful head of the nation’s security services and the architect of Operation Spiderweb, one of the most audacious attacks on Russian territory since Moscow’s 2022 invasion, which destroyed Russian aircraft sitting on the tarmacs of air bases.
Reports of Maliuk’s imminent ouster — part of a sweeping shake-up in the Ukrainian leadership at the start of the new year — emerged over the weekend, angering top military officials, who warned that his removal as head of the security services, or SBU, risked destabilizing the chain of command as Russia continues to grind forward on the battlefield.
Among other personnel changes, Zelensky named the head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, as chief of the presidential office, and he tapped the digital transformation minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, to become defense minister.
Zelensky, posting on the Telegram online platform, said Monday that he had met with Maliuk and “suggested that he focus” on his “combat work.” Maliuk confirmed that he was stepping down in a statement on the SBU website.
Maliuk’s new title was not announced, but Zelensky indicated he would continue to oversee special operations against Russia as Ukraine seeks to maintain its beleaguered defenses.
“There should be more Ukrainian asymmetric operations against the occupier and the Russian state, more of our strong results in destroying the enemy,” Zelensky wrote. “[Maliuk] knows how to do this best and will continue to do so within the SBU system.”
Zelensky also said in a separate Telegram post that he had met with Yevhen Khmara, head of an SBU special operations center, but the president did not provide further details. However, later, Zelensky posted a decree on the presidential website naming Khmara the new SBU head.
The decision to replace Maliuk has been met with extraordinary pushback from high-ranking military commanders, some of whom rarely comment publicly.
“I usually do not comment on events or seek publicity — in wartime, statements matter less than daily work,” the head of Ukraine’s Joint Forces Group, Maj. Gen. Mykhailo Drapatyi, wrote on Facebook on Saturday. “At the same time, I believe it is important to acknowledge support where it is truly needed and not to shy away from words of gratitude.”
“War quickly puts everything in its place,” Draptyi said. “In this sense, Vasyl Maliuk is exactly where he should be.”
In June, Maliuk directed one of the most celebrated attacks on Russian soil in the nearly four years of Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Ukrainian drones, which had been smuggled into Russia, emerged from trucks and under the roofs of prefabricated houses to attack air bases across Russia, some as far as 3,400 miles east of Ukraine.
The plan, called Operation Spiderweb, required 18 months of planning, Maliuk told journalists afterward.
The assault destroyed 12 Russian aircraft, including Tu-95 long-range bombers that the Kremlin uses to target Ukrainian cities with missiles, and hit 41 aircraft in total, Ukrainian officials said. Satellite imagery analyzed by The Washington Post indicated that at least 12 aircraft were damaged.
On Saturday, Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces — which help carry out Ukrainian drone attacks — wrote on Facebook that “making personnel decisions to replace the head of the SBU today is a risk,” whatever Maliuk’s effectiveness may be in other security roles.
“Commander Maliuk is exactly where he belongs — a true nightmare for the enemy. That’s all,” Brovdi wrote.
Zelensky’s government shake-up follows a major corruption scandal, which led to the resignation of his friend and longtime head of his administration Andriy Yermak, who was widely considered the second-most-powerful person in the country.
In recent days, Zelensky said that Oleg Ivashchenko, head of the foreign intelligence service, would replace Budanov as chief of military intelligence. Denys Shmyhal, the former prime minister who became defense minister in July, will now become energy minister.
Zelensky also said he would replace the heads of the military administrations in the Vinnytsia, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Ternopil and Chernivtsi regions.
On Monday, Zelensky said he had appointed former Canadian deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland as an adviser on economic development. Freeland, who is of Ukrainian descent and speaks Ukrainian, also served as Canada’s finance minister and minister of foreign affairs and international trade.
Meanwhile, Russia’s air attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure continue. Kyiv officials said an aerial attack on the capital killed one and injured four when a drone struck the inpatient department of a medical facility.
Morgunov reported from Berlin.
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