Poklad was appointed acting head of SBU, and Tsutskiridze was appointed head of the National Police

Oleksandr Poklad was appointed acting head of SBU, and Maksym Tsutskiridze was appointed head of the National Police.

This is stated in the decree of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Poklad became the Deputy Head of SBU in 2023. In May 2025, he represented Ukraine as part of the delegation at negotiations with the Russian Federation in Istanbul, and since November 28, he has been a member of the negotiating team.

According to journalists from the "Schemes" project of Radio Liberty, during the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych, Poklad worked on a voluntary basis as an assistant to Ivan Myrny, a former deputy from the banned “Party of Regions” and the "Opposition Bloc" and the former head of security for oligarch Dmitry Firtash.

He was also an assistant to another "regional" Ravil Safiullin and helped Ivan Myrnyi when he was a deputy from the banned “Party of Regions”, and later — the "Opposition Bloc".

Tsukiridzeʼs appointment was reported by the Cabinet of Ministers. Prior to that, he was the First Deputy Head of the National Police since 2023. Among his other career steps are an investigator, investigator, head of a postgraduate education center, and a number of positions in the Main Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Government changes and protests

The Rada dismissed Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko from office on July 14. Already on July 15, Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov reported his resignation. This led to a wave of protests on July 16. Participants gathered in Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odesa, Kryvyi Rih, Rivne, Cherkasy, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, and Ivano-Frankivsk. Protests continue today.

Also yesterday, July 16, 289 MPs voted in favor of appointing Koretsky as Prime Minister of Ukraine. Only one MP was against. After that, the Rada voted to appoint ministers to the new government of Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky.

At the same time, Zelensky instructed Yevheniy Khmara to act as Minister of Defense, and dismissed Tymur Tkachenko from the post of head of the Kyiv Military Academy (his replacement will be Deputy Ruslan Oliynyk).

On July 17, Zelensky offered former Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko the position of Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council. The government also appointed Andriy Sybiha as acting Foreign Minister.

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