Zelenskyy Replaces Top Security Official In New Reshuffle As Exhausted Troops Struggle

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has replaced a top security official with the head of Ukraine's foreign spy agency in a new reshuffle that comes as Russian forces press with ground attacks along the front line.

Zelenskyy dismissed Oleksii Danilov, who served as secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, thanking him for his service in a video address late Tuesday.

The president gave no reason and said, without providing details, that Danilov will be “reassigned to another area”. Zelenskyy replaced him with Oleksandr Lytvynenko, who served as head of Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service.

The National Security Council is a policy coordination body that is chaired by Zelenskyy. Danilov had held his position since October 2019, a few months after Zelenskyy took office.

The dismissal follows Zelenskyy's decision in February to fire Ukraine's chief military officer, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, and replace him with Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi. Tensions between Zaluzhnyi and the president grew after Ukraine's much-touted 2023 summer counteroffensive failed to reach its goals. This month, Zaluzhnyi was named Ukraine's ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Danilov's dismissal comes as exhausted Ukrainian troops struggle with a shortage of personnel and ammunition and face growing Russian pressure along the front line that stretches over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles).

On Wednesday, Russian airstrikes hit residential buildings in the northeastern city of Kharkiv near the border, killing at least one resident and wounding several others, local officials said. In a post on his Telegram channel, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said 16 people were wounded in the strikes, which also damaged the Kharkiv institute for emergency surgery. The Kharkiv region cuts across the front line where Ukrainian and Russian forces have been locked in battles for over two years since Moscow's invasion.