Maliuk has shown he won't do Zelenskyy's dirty work — political analyst

Viktor Bobyrenko, political analyst and expert from the Bureau of Policy Analysis, stated this on Espreso TV.

"I'm very glad that forces have emerged in the Verkhovna Rada that seek to make the parliament more independent. Zelenskyy is trying to remove Maliuk to show that the head of the Security Service of Ukraine must be loyal not to the state and the people, but to him personally. However, this year Maliuk has proven several times that this is not the case," the expert emphasized.

Bobyrenko added: "Maliuk definitively joined the opposition this fall. It became clear that he wasn't willing to run errands and do Zelenskyy's dirty work. He wanted to control his own actions. Moreover, military officials stood up for him, but Zelenskyy put them in their place, essentially saying: 'I respect you, but I decide who to fire and how to act.' And since the Committee doesn't have the votes, they don't exist in the Verkhovna Rada either. But if the Rada conditionally shows its defiance, that would be great."

• On January 5, the head of Ukraine's Security Service, Vasyl Maliuk, announced his resignation. He stated he would remain within the SBU system and would continue focusing on implementing asymmetric special operations against the enemy.
• Yevheniy Khmara, head of the Special Operations Center A, became the acting head of the Security Service of Ukraine.
• On January 12, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence did not support the decision regarding Vasyl Maliuk's resignation as head of the SBU.