President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced a wide-ranging series of personnel and institutional changes aimed at strengthening Ukraine’s resilience, security structures, and defense management. The reshuffle begins with the appointment of Kyrylo Budanov as Head of the Office of the President, a move Zelenskyy presented as particularly important for security policy and the continuing negotiation process. Oleh Ivashchenko, who previously served in Defense Intelligence and later headed the Foreign Intelligence Service, will take over as chief of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine. A separate decision on new leadership for the Foreign Intelligence Service is expected, while changes are also planned at the State Border Guard Service. Zelenskyy said he is awaiting candidates from Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko and indicated that the service will operate under revised management approaches.

The overhaul will extend beyond personnel appointments. Zelenskyy ordered the preparation of presidential legislation to update the State Bureau of Investigation, with a draft expected in January before being submitted to the Verkhovna Rada. He also assigned Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Pavlo Palisa, a former combat commander, to consult directly with frontline brigades and identify measures that could improve Ukraine’s military position. Military training is another area marked for reform, with Zelenskyy arguing that training systems must absorb lessons directly from battlefield experience and that those responsible for preparing Ukrainian troops need a practical understanding of the realities of the war.

A major part of the changes concerns the Ministry of Defense. Zelenskyy said he had proposed that Mykhailo Fedorov become the new defense minister, pointing to Fedorov’s involvement in the Drone Line initiative and his record of introducing digital systems into government. The goal is to combine technological modernization with the needs of the armed forces, military leadership, domestic weapons producers, and Ukraine’s international partners. Zelenskyy also highlighted recent defense-production progress, saying that by December Ukraine had exceeded a target of producing 1,000 interceptor drones per day while continuing efforts to train additional crews.

Denys Shmyhal, meanwhile, is expected to remain within the government team but move to another area that Zelenskyy described as equally important to national resilience. The president framed the wider restructuring as an effort to ensure that Ukraine has not only effective institutions but also sufficient weapons, energy, financing, political capacity, and international support. He said further decisions would follow, while Ukraine was also preparing for a meeting of national security advisers involving European countries and the United States. The message was that institutional reform, technological development, and closer coordination with partners will remain central to Ukraine’s strategy in the year ahead.