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Zelenskyy appoints Yevhen Khmara acting head of SBU and discusses scaling up special operations

Zelenskyy appoints Yevhen Khmara acting head of SBU and discusses scaling up special operations

05 January 2026, 14:20

Zelenskyy appoints Yevhen Khmara acting head of SBU and discusses scaling up special operations — acting Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Yevhen Khmara

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appointed Yevhen Khmara as interim head of the SSU. During the meeting, the parties discussed the systemic development of the service and scaling up the experience of special forces.

The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the Chief of the Special Operations Centre «A»Security Service of Ukraine Yevhen Khmara and discussed the possibilities of systemic development of the SSU and expansion of the practices of Ukrainian special forces. The Head of State announced this on 5 January in Telegram

On the same day, Zelensky signed Decree No. 19/2026, by which he appointed Khmara as acting head of the SSU. The personnel decision was made following the statement of Vasyl Malyuk about his resignation from the post of the head of the service

Yevhen Khmara has been serving in the Special Operations Centre "A" since 2011, and in 2023 he became the head of the unit. At the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, he took part in the liberation of Kyiv region and later fought in Donetsk region. The A Special Forces unit headed by him is consistently among the top three most effective units of the Defence Forces in terms of destroying enemy equipment and manpower using UAVs. According to open estimates, the confirmed enemy losses from the unit's actions exceed USD 5.5 billion, excluding the SBU's special operation "Pavetina"

Zelensky thanked Khmara and the special forces for their combat work and stressed that their experience will be scaled up to strengthen the SSU's capabilities under martial law

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