Oleksandr Danylyuk, head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, submitted his resignation to President Volodymyr Zelensky, the President’s Office said on Sept. 27.
According to the President’s Office, Danylyuk filed his resignation before Zelensky left for the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York on Sept. 23, and that the request would be reviewed after Zelensky returns to Ukraine.
Danylyuk confirmed he filed the resignation.
“I’m staying on the job until the president makes a decision,” he said.
Zelensky appointed Danylyuk to serve as the head of the Security and Defense Council on May 28, a week after Zelensky took office. Prior to his appointment, Danylyuk was viewed as one of the candidates for prime minister.
On Sept. 20, around the time he submitted his resignation, Danylyuk took part in Freedom of Speech, a political talk show on Ukrainian television, where he criticized oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky’s attempts to get back PrivatBank, a bank he formerly owned that was nationalized in 2016, or receive a compensation for it.
Kolomoisky is a former business associate of Zelensky. The president used to produce shows for the oligarch’s TV channel.
READ MORE: Kolomoisky rides high again despite $5.5 billion taxpayer bailout of bank
Kolomoisky’s ties to Zelensky have led many to question whether the oligarch will receive his coveted compensation now that Zelensky is president. Danylyuk, while being an associate of Zelensky since his presidential campaign, has been one of the top officials at the forefront of the PrivatBank nationalization process in 2016.
The state-owned PrivatBank is now suing its former owner for fraud. After the bank was nationalized, a $5.5 billion hole was discovered in its books, allegedly due to mismanagement and fraudulent insider lending.
“Any instability around PrivatBank has direct consequences for the stability of the country’s financial system,” Danylyuk said during the show on Sept. 20.
He added that there are no mechanisms to return PrivatBank to its former owner after the state bailed the bank out with an Hr 155 billion ($6 billion) cash inflow.
If Kolomoisky wants the bank back “this money should be returned to the state,” said Danylyuk.
A day prior, during an interview to Radio NV, Danylyuk commented on the attacks on Valeria Gontareva, former head of Ukraine’s National Bank who was in charge of nationalizing PrivatBank and recently experienced attacks on herself and her family members.
Gontareva accused Kolomoisky of being behind the attacks.
“(Kolomoisky) created all the conditions for such accusations,” said Danylyuk.
READ MORE: House of ex-NBU head Gontareva burned down in arson attack
Danylyuk served as Ukraine’s finance minister during the nationalization of PrivatBank back in 2016. He resigned in June 2018, after a public conflict with then-Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, during a Cabinet meeting.
