The Ukrainian president has appointed one of Kyiv’s key peace deal negotiators as the new head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, but the political crisis triggered by the dismissal of Mykhailo Fedorov is still ongoing.
Rustem Umerov, former secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council has been appointed as head of Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service on 3 August.
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Umerov has also been a key member of Kyiv’s negotiating team in the US-led peace process and he will carry on with this task, according to Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Ukraine’s president explained as well that Umerov will also continue coordinating the Drone Deal initiative with foreign partners, including in the Middle East.
"He has greater capacity to deal with these issues simultaneously — diplomacy, defence, and the negotiations process with the US and some other partners," Zelenskyy said during an event with diplomats on Monday.
Former Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko will replace Umerov as secretary of the National Security and Defence Council.
The appointments come as part of Zelenskyy’s war-time government reshuffle launched in July, which triggered a self-inflicted political and military crisis.
Pro-Fedorov protests continue in Kyiv
Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service has been without a permanent chief since winter, a situation that has drawn far less attention than turmoil at another key institution - the defence ministry, which has now gone more than two weeks without a full‑time minister.
Ukrainians are still demanding that Zelenskyy reinstates former Mykhailo Fedorov after his dismissal triggered nationwide street protests.
On 31 July Kyiv saw what the organisers claimed was the “the largest protest since the Revolution of Dignity” in 2014.
Ukrainian war veteran Dmytro Koziatynskyi, one of the protest movement's public leaders, called on Zelenskyy to “give Mykhailo (Fedorov) a year to carry out the reforms, and then make decisions based on the results."
Koziatynskyi said even “during the air raid alert in Kyiv, the protesters refused to disperse and chanted: "We stand and we will keep standing.”
“Frustration and anger are building up in society, and it's currently completely unclear how such a disoriented state will enter the promised harsh winter.”
“You must end the protests by bringing Fedorov back to the Ministry of Defence,” he said calling on Zelenskyy to fulfil the last one of the protesters' original demands.
Earlier Ukraine’s president already dismissed Oleksandr Syrskyi as commander in chief and replaced him with Mykhailo Drapatyi, a widely respected commander.
But as the protesters vow to continue demonstrating, Zelenskyy has given no indication that he intends to return Fedorov.