Zelenskyy to fire two deputy heads of Ukrainian President's Office – sources close to president

Roman Kravets, VALENTYNA ROMANENKO — Friday, 29 March 2024, 18:43

Andrii Smyrnov and Oleksii Dniprov. Сollage: Ukrainska Pravda

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is planning to sack Andrii Smyrnov and Oleksii Dniprov, deputies of Andrii Yermak, Head of the Ukrainian President's Office.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda sources in Zelenskyy's team

Quote: "Official information about this will be released either on Friday evening or in the coming days."

More updates on this topic: Zelenskyy dismisses two deputy heads of President's Office

Details: In addition, Ukrainska Pravda sources say that besides the dismissals of Smyrnov and Dniprov, the possible dismissal of another of Yermak’s deputies, Andrii Sybiha, is being considered.

Update: Ukrainska Pravda has been informed that the Ukrainian President's Office is considering the following candidates to replace the above-mentioned officials: Iryna Mudra to replace Smyrnov (she served as Deputy Justice Minister until 29 March 2024), Mykola Tochytskyi (currently Deputy Foreign Minister) to replace Sybiha, and Olena Kovalska (currently Head of the Main Department of Strategic Communications of the Information Policy Department) to replace Dniprov.

For reference: Dniprov was appointed as deputy head of the President's Office on 9 July 2021. Smyrnov has been holding this post since 10 September 2019. The Ukrainian president's website states that Andrii Yermak has 10 deputies.

Smyrnov is responsible for courts in the Office of the President. Dniprov deals with issues of culture and sports. Sybiha is a diplomat and, according to UP sources, plans to return to work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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