Under the Smoke: Zelenskyy’s Next Move Against the SBU

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It is crucial to know who will succeed Vasyl Malyuk. One scenario about a young, combat-tested officer — Major General Yevheniy Khmara, head of the Central Military District “A,” who grew up in the Russian-Ukrainian war and personally planned bold operations. Another scenario is far more concerning: Yermak’s long-standing ambition to install his protégé, Oleksandr Poklad, as head of the SBU.

Whether we will be pleased with the new “Spider Webs” and the colourful searches of Moscow’s priests during the era of Zelenskyy’s close ties with the pro-Russian gas oligarch Dmytro Firtash is far from certain. Here, we would not return to the FSB-style raids — of which there were far too many during the Bakanov era — raids that became the very reason Russia was able to seize entire regions with relative ease.

Zelenskyy is eager to end the war and bring peace to the hungry audience of his New Year’s address. Not a high-quality, lasting peace, but at least something.

The president needs a smokescreen for a safe exit, so that the SBU and the State Bureau of Investigation do not one day come knocking at his door, when the presidency no longer exists and wartime immunity has melted away like snow.

For the sake of the illusion of peace, Stefanchuk and Arakhamia are pushing proposals for a referendum, where the Ukrainian people themselves would be forced to sign, in effect, either a light capitulation or a trade agreement that could turn Ukraine into a prize.

And Zelenskyy himself is ready to throw his own trump cards into the rubbish — the hunting of the Russian fleet, the burning of Russia’s defense industry and oil refineries deep in its rear — all because somewhere in Miami, someone told someone through Witkoff that “we need to be more flexible and not anger Grandpa Putin.”

Wars of this kind, like ours, are won by armies and professionals at the head of the power structure. In the first half of his term, President Zelenskyy also played the game of diplomatic complacency, trying not to provoke Moscow to escalation. That approach cost us time, skilled personnel, and ultimately resulted in a tragedy of enormous proportions.

On the eve of the meeting, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported on a meeting with Vasyl Malyuk , during which he thanked him for his combat work and suggested continuing to focus on asymmetric operations against the Russian Federation. In addition, during the meeting, the parties discussed candidates for the appointment of a new head of the Security Service of Ukraine.

Subsequently, Vasyl Malyuk announced his resignation as head of the Security Service of Ukraine. At the same time, he reported that he would remain in the SBU system to carry out special operations. According to journalists, this decision was made after lengthy consultations and pressure from the Office of the President. Malyuk’s team believes that the possible resignation is linked to long-standing conflicts within the government.

It should be noted that in early December, information emerged that the former head of the President’s Office, Andriy Yermak, a week before his own resignation following a corruption scandal, he’s tried to push for the dismissal of the head of the SBU, Vasyl Malyuk . Yermak allegedly pressured him all last week, demanding his resignation – because he believed that the head of the SBU “overlooked” Operation Midas and did not protect him.

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