Any political changes in sensitive areas, especially in times of war, should not weaken the state's defense capability. The resignation of Vasyl Maliuk objectively weakens it. At the same time, an attempt has been made to hedge against this by retaining the strongest and most experienced specialists in the SSU. The commander of the Third Army Corps, Brigadier General Andrii Biletskyi, has stated this in a commentary to the Ukrainian News agency.
Biletskyi was among the military who called for Vasyl Maliuk's retention. "With Maliuk, his deputies are leaving the system, which creates a risk of losing managerial continuity and continuity of operational work. This is a challenge for a country at war. Maintaining continuity is critical," Biletskyi said.
Vasyl Maliuk. Photo: SSU
Today, the SSU's area of responsibility includes war and counterintelligence in all its manifestations. The military component is strategic deep strikes on the enemy (on the rear, tankers, oil refineries, "shadow fleet") and operations directly on the front line.
Biletskyi added that the main professional core of the service - the team that developed and implemented the most high-profile and effective special operations - remains. The newly appointed acting head of the SSU, Yevhen Khmara, was Maliuk's right-hand man in the military sector.
"He directly developed and managed landmark military operations. The formation of the Alpha special unit in its current form is also largely his merit. We should also mention his significant role in the operation on the Zmiinyi Island, the battles for Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk. The list is long," said Biletskyi.
Yevhen Khmara. Photo: SSU
Biletskyi also positively assessed the appointment of Oleksandr Poklad as the first deputy head of the SSU. He called this decision aimed at maintaining a high professional level of counterintelligence. For example, it was Poklad who led the operation to detain Viktor Medvedchuk in April 2022. He developed and implemented operations to eliminate high-ranking Russian military officers, identified and detained top agents, both in political circles and within the service and other law enforcement agencies.
He is credited with high-profile exposés of russian agents: SSU General Shaitanov, colonels on parole; the arrest of the russian-backed director of the Pavlohrad chemical plant, who supplied hundreds of thousands of unusable ammunition to the Armed Forces. The unit also dealt with Hungarian agents in Ukraine and prevented a series of terrorist attacks in shopping centers.
Oleksandr Poklad. Photo from open sources
"Time will tell how successful the new team will be. However, it is fundamentally important that the key figures behind the landmark operations remained in the system and were even promoted," the general added.
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