President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sept. 30 accepted the resignation of Oleksandr Danylyuk, head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.
Danylyuk, who was seen as one of the top reformers in Zelensky’s administration, submitted his resignation earlier in September.
Zelensky appointed Danylyuk to serve as the head of the Security and Defense Council on May 28.
On Sept. 20, 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 compensation for it.
Kolomoisky is a former business associate of Zelensky. The president used to produce shows for the oligarch’s TV channel.
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 fraudulent insider lending.
Danylyuk had a similar history with the previous president, Petro Poroshenko. He served under Poroshenko as deputy chief of staff from 2015 to 2016 and as finance minister from 2016 to 2018.
He resigned as finance minister after a public conflict with then-Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman.
Then, Danylyuk accused Poroshenko allies, including Groysman and ex-lawmakers Ihor Kononenko and Nina Yuzhanina, of sabotaging reforms. They denied the accusations.
