The Council Committee abruptly changed its mind: it supported Malyuk’s dismissal
13 January 11:49
The Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense, and Intelligence supported the president’s proposal to dismiss the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Vasyl Malyuk, although this decision had not been approved the day before. The final decision will be made by a vote in the parliament chamber, which is scheduled for today. This was reported by Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a member of parliament from the Voice party, and Solomiya Bobrovska, a member of the defense committee and a member of parliament from the Voice party, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
“The Verkhovna Rada Committee on Defense reviewed yesterday’s decision… 12 voted in favor, 1 abstained (Venislavsky), and 5 voted against (Kostenko, Bobrovska, Ivchenko, Rakhmanin, Friz). This means that, as of now, the president’s proposal to dismiss Malyuk from his position as head of the SBU has been supported by the committee,” Zheleznyak wrote.
Bobrovska clarified that this decision was supported by all members of the committee who are part of the Servant of the People party, except for two — one abstained (Fedor Venislavsky) and another was absent.
This allowed the committee to recommend that parliament support the presidential proposal.
According to Yaroslav Zheleznyak’s forecast, more than 226 deputies in the Verkhovna Rada may vote in favor of Malyuk’s dismissal, meaning that the decision has every chance of being adopted.
What is known about the committee’s vote on Malyuk’s dismissal
Yesterday, the first vote in the committee ended unsuccessfully: 7 in favor, 6 against, and 2 abstained.
On January 5, President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Vasyl Malyuk, thanked him for his work, and suggested he focus on combat and special tasks.
After the meeting, Malyuk announced that he was stepping down as head of the SBU but would remain in the system to participate in special operations against the enemy.
On January 9, his resignation was officially submitted to the Verkhovna Rada.
What’s next
Today, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is to consider the issue in the session hall. If the forecast of more than 226 votes “for” comes true, Vasyl Malyuk will be officially dismissed from the post of head of the SBU, and the question of the new head of the service will remain open.
Thus, this is not only a personnel change, but also a reformatting of the management of one of the country’s key security structures in the context of war and active special operations.
What will happen to the leadership of the SBU
Faction leader David Arakhamia confirmed that no new candidate for the position of SBU head will be nominated for the time being.
There is also no final certainty that the acting head of the service, Yevhen Khmara, will remain in this position on a permanent basis.
