Zelenskyy offers Klymenko position of NSDC Secretary instead of Umerov

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered former Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko the position of Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC). Zelenskyy announced this on the Telegram channel, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

Zelenskyy reported on the meeting with Klymenko and said that he thanked him for his work in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

"Ihor Klymenko will continue to work for Ukraine in the field of protecting our state and people. I offered him the position of Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. The corresponding decree on the appointment is already being prepared," he said.

Zelenskyy stressed the importance of coordination between all components in the security and defense sector and daily control over the implementation of decisions.

"Every decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine and the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief must be implemented in full and at the specified time. The Government of Ukraine, our Defense and Security Forces of Ukraine and the entire system of state structures must work exactly as necessary to achieve the specified state goals. A separate priority is the coordination of defense production," he noted.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, MPs previously named Klymenko as the main candidate for the post of Minister of Defense, but, according to them, he refused this position.

Klymenko held the post of Minister of Internal Affairs from February 2023 until July 14 of this year, when the Verkhovna Rada accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, which resulted in the resignation of the entire Cabinet of Ministers.

In July 2025, Zelenskyy appointed former Defense Minister Rustem Umerov as Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council instead of Oleksandr Lytvynenko.

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