War

One thousand four hundred and twelve days. Vasily Malyuk resigned as head of the SBU. They said about his possible resignation: “If this happens, champagne will be opened in the Kremlin.”

Since February 24, 2022, Meduza has been broadcasting live about the Russian-Ukrainian war. We publish your letters in our daily materials because we are sure that we need to continue talking about the war. Share with us the thoughts you have about the war. What feelings are you experiencing? How does war affect you, your life, the lives of your loved ones and your attitude towards the world? The feedback form is at the end of this article. A review of the previous day can be read here .

The head of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasily Malyuk wrote a letter of resignation. After a meeting with President Vladimir Zelensky, he announced that he was leaving his post, but “remains in the SBU system to implement world-class asymmetric special operations, which will continue to cause maximum harm to the enemy.” It is not yet clear what position he will occupy.

Zelensky appointed Major General Yevhen Khmara as acting head of the SBU. Khmara is a career employee of the SBU, since 2023 he has headed the Center for Special Operations to Combat Terrorism, and since August 2025 he has been the head of the Alpha Special Operations Center. Khmara’s candidacy for the post of head of the SBU will have to be approved by the Verkhovna Rada.

Malyuk has led the SBU since July 2022 (until the summer of 2023 - in an acting capacity). Under his leadership, the intelligence service, in particular, carried out several high-profile operations in Russia, including Operation Web and three bombings of the Crimean Bridge, and also organized ongoing attacks on oil refineries deep in Russian territory.

In Ukraine, the activities of the SBU under the leadership of Malyuk were assessed as extremely successful. RBC-Ukraine noted that if before the war the functions of the SBU were limited exclusively to internal security, then after the appointment of Malyuk, the special service, like the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, headed by Kirill Budanov, “actually became full-fledged participants in the war and global brands.”

“It was he who turned the SBU into an effective intelligence service, conducting unique special operations and giving Ukraine strong cards at the negotiating table,” an unnamed Ukrainian official told Politico on January 3. According to him, Malyuk’s departure from the SBU will seriously weaken the intelligence service: “The Kremlin will open champagne if Malyuk leaves his post.”

Rumors about Malyuk's possible resignation appeared in the first days of January. Against this background, on January 3, well-known military commanders and analysts almost simultaneously wrote messages on their social networks in which they expressed their support for Malyuk, shared their successful experience of working together and emphasized that he is now “in his place.”

Ukrayinska Pravda, citing sources, later wrote that on Saturday, at a meeting with Zelensky, Malyuk refused to write a letter of resignation, saying that now the SBU is in the final stages of several operations on the scale of the “Web” and it would be a “crime” to abandon them. The head of the SBU suggested that Zelensky refer the issue of his dismissal to the Verkhovna Rada. The President was “outraged” by the refusal.

On Sunday, Ukrayinska Pravda wrote, Malyuk was “put under pressure,” and in the end he agreed, deciding that to aggravate relations with the president would mean harming the state.

In the team of Malyuk himself, according to Ukrainskaya Pravda, they consider his resignation to be the revenge of the former head of the presidential office, Andriy Ermak, who still retains informal influence, for the disloyal position of the head of the SBU during a corruption scandal. This scandal cost Ermak himself, who was previously considered the second most influential person in the country, his position.

Since the beginning of January, Zelensky has been carrying out a series of large-scale reshuffles in the government and security forces. On January 2, he appointed Kirill Budanov, who previously headed the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, as head of his office. Oleg Ivashchenko, who previously headed the Foreign Intelligence Service, became the new head of the Main Intelligence Directorate.

Zelensky offered Defense Minister Denis Shmygal to take the post of First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy. The new Minister of Defense should be the Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov, who previously oversaw the development of unmanned systems in the status of Deputy Prime Minister.

War in photographs. Kyiv

This morning, during a Russian drone attack on Kiev, debris hit a private medical facility in the Obolonsky district. As a result, a 20-year-old man died, four more people were hospitalized, two of them are in serious condition.

War through the eyes of Meduza readers

How we choose letters

Meduza's readers live in different countries and have different attitudes towards the war. We publish your letters to see this event through your eyes. Our editors try to present all points of view, even if they do not coincide with the editorial position. However, in accordance with the Meduza code, we do not publish messages that contain “hate speech,” justify the murder of civilians, or express direct support for an aggressive war.

Zhenya (Great Britain) . The only chance for a quick peace (not in the first months of 2026, of course, but maybe at least by the summer) in my opinion is to submit the issue of territories to an all-Ukrainian referendum. I can’t imagine Putin giving up on his idea of ​​capturing the entire Donetsk region - without this it will be impossible to sell the end of the war to the people as an unconditional victory. Zelensky firmly stands that he has no right to give away Ukrainian land. A referendum is the only chance to break this stalemate.

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