Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky continued to clean house on Saturday even as Russia bombarded the nation, carrying out 75 airstrikes in just 24 hours.
Zelensky ousted two key staffers — his top aide, Serhiy Shefir, and the Commissioner for Soldiers’ Rights, Alyona Verbytska.
He also removed four other government workers. Zelensky did not offer reasons for their expulsions, The Kyiv Independent reported.
The latest personnel changes come just a day after Zelensky dismissed Andrii Smirnov and Oleksii Dniprov as the deputy heads of his office and are the latest in a series of changes he’s made at the top of the military and government in recent months.
Shefir was appointed as Zelensky’s advisor soon after he assumed the presidential office in May 2019.
A personal friend of Zelensky’s, he worked as a producer on “Servant of the People”, the comedy series. The comedy shot Zelensky to fame, in which he played a high-school history teacher who becomes Ukraine’s top politician.
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In 2021, Shefir survived an assassination attempt, with suspicion that Kremlin orchestrated the attempt.
Zelensky also let go of Natalia Pushkaryova, the president’s external commissioner for volunteer activities. And three advisors who were not part of his staff, including Ukrainian entrepreneur Mykhailo Radutsky and economist Oleh Ustensko.
On Tuesday, Zelensky replaced National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov with the chief of his Foreign Intelligence Service, Oleksandr Lytvynenko.
In August, the wartime leader fired all of the country’s military recruitment chiefs over corruption claims and followed that move up in September by replacing the nation’s defence minister amid the corruption crackdown.
Since Friday, Russia has also fired 38 missiles on Ukraine and waged 98 rocket launcher attacks.
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