Zelenskyy puts Umerov in charge of foreign intelligence despite critics’ doubts

Zelenskyy appointed Umerov, then secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, to lead the Foreign Intelligence Service on Aug. 3. The former defense minister, who subsequently focused on negotiations with international partners, will now oversee a specialized agency that had gone more than six months without a permanent chief. Its previous head, Oleh Ivashchenko, moved to Ukraine’s HUR military intelligence agency in January 2026.

Ihor Klymenko, the former interior minister, replaced Umerov as National Security and Defense Council secretary. Klymenko had declined to become defense minister amid the “cardboard” protests and Mykhailo Fedorov’s unwillingness to relinquish the Defense Ministry post.

Zelenskyy said Umerov would coordinate new drone agreements in his new role. Ukraine already has such agreements with nine countries and is negotiating with 15 others. The deals cover both Ukrainian drone exports and the integration of drone-based defense technologies into partner countries’ defense systems.

Umerov will also continue his diplomatic work, including negotiations with the United States, Zelenskyy said.

Personnel anorexia

Zelenskyy has good reason to keep Umerov close, even if that means finding him positions outside his expertise, said Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada’s Freedom of Speech Committee and a Holos lawmaker. Umerov himself came from the Holos faction.

The president considers it essential that members of his team remain loyal, avoid acting independently, maintain a low public profile and not compete with him for public trust or popularity, Yurchyshyn told NV. Umerov, he said, fits that profile perfectly.

Servant of the People and Holos lawmakers who spoke with NV also said the former National Security and Defense Council secretary plays an important role in negotiations with Ukraine’s partners — not only the United States but also Türkiye and Arab and Asian countries.

Political analyst Ihor Reiterovych, however, believes Zelenskyy is “simply afraid to let certain people get too far away from him because they know too much.” The president also has few people left whom he trusts and feels comfortable working with.

“Zelenskyy is playing the 15-puzzle,” Reiterovych said. “You just move the numbered tiles around, but the board never changes. You can rearrange them, but you cannot remove any of the tiles from the board.”

“Personnel anorexia” was how Solomiia Bobrovska, a Holos lawmaker and member of the National Security and Defense Committee, described the president’s latest personnel changes.

‘He will be chief in name only’

All the sources who spoke with NV agreed that Zelenskyy appointed Umerov to lead the Foreign Intelligence Service only because Klymenko needed a new position after circumstances forced him to turn down the defense minister post. The president gave Klymenko the National Security and Defense Council job and moved Umerov to the intelligence service.

“They gave away what they thought was expendable,” Bobrovska said indignantly. “As if the Foreign Intelligence Service were expendable! It has always been one of the most serious institutions in any country. Intelligence is the holy of holies — one of the pillars of the state, something it relies on. And now we are putting an unqualified person in charge because this is political — a political appointment.”

The Foreign Intelligence Service’s original mandate covers intelligence operations in political, economic, military-technical, scientific and technological, information and environmental affairs. It also helps combat international organized crime and terrorism and protects Ukrainian institutions and citizens abroad.

Its responsibilities include conducting and countering industrial espionage, identifying innovations and determining how they could be adapted to Ukraine’s needs, Yurchyshyn explained.

In recent years, however, HUR has assumed some of the service’s responsibilities, while Ukraine’s SBU Security Service has taken over others, Yurchyshyn said. The agency Umerov now leads has become one of the weakest links in Ukraine’s intelligence system.

“Even the tasks the president formally assigned Rustem, along with the fact that Rustem will unofficially continue handling negotiations, show that these are not exactly the priorities Ukraine critically needs in this area,” Yurchyshyn added.

The government has no intention of rescuing the service, the lawmaker said.

“This position, like that of National Security and Defense Council secretary, now looks more like a sinecure — an honorary retirement post for team members who demonstrated the highest level of loyalty but whose jobs now need to go to people seen as more useful,” he added.

Reiterovych considers Umerov’s appointment absurd not only because he lacks the qualifications for the job but also because the new chief faces a series of questions.

“What has this man actually done?” the political analyst asked. “He failed at everything in the Defense Ministry and failed at everything as National Security and Defense Council secretary. Why on earth appoint him head of the Foreign Intelligence Service?”

Bobrovska offered a similar assessment of Umerov’s performance in his previous positions.

The new intelligence chief also appears in the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine’s publicly released “Mindich tapes,” which concern corruption in the energy sector and public procurement. No case has been opened against him.

Bobrovska believes Umerov received the position to give him official standing in negotiations with Ukraine’s partners. She described the appointment of her former faction colleague as a catastrophe for the agency and called it “one of the final chapters in the life of an institution that has not yet completely collapsed.”

“They should have invented a job for him as head of intergalactic coordination groups,” Bobrovska said sarcastically.

Reiterovych, however, believes the appointment may not prove critical if Umerov limits himself to general coordination and does not interfere in the agency’s operations.

“The agency will continue working, while Umerov will be its chief in name only,” Reiterovych said. “I think that is the best-case scenario: He reports to the president and submits analysis but does not particularly interfere in the agency’s work. Instead, he handles other matters assigned to him by the president. A chief who is essentially a political figure in this context will not be particularly useful — but if we are lucky, he will not do any harm.”

Bobrovska countered that the service cannot operate independently because its chief determines its direction, tasks and priorities. She also argued that “just as he did not show up for work at the National Security and Defense Council, he will not show up here either.”

Because Umerov showed little activity as National Security and Defense Council secretary, officials even tried to strengthen the deputy secretary’s position by giving it additional authority, Yurchyshyn said.

“I think Umerov will do at the Foreign Intelligence Service what he did at the Defense Ministry and the National Security and Defense Council — definitely not what his position requires him to do,” said a knowledgeable Servant of the People lawmaker who requested anonymity.

Umerov identified the continued development of security, intelligence and defense cooperation with international partners as one of his key priorities. He also plans to focus on implementing the president’s strategic initiatives, including the Drone Deal project and the Freya anti-ballistic program.

Yurchyshyn described drone manufacturing partnerships with other countries as an unusual priority for the Foreign Intelligence Service.

A Servant of the People source, however, said the agency could support Umerov’s continuing diplomatic work by providing him with additional intelligence.

“Perhaps Rustem will appreciate the additional capabilities that heading the agency gives him and be able to use them in his work,” the source added.

‘Partners will be pleased’

Ukraine’s international partners are unlikely to pay much attention to Umerov’s appointment, all NV’s sources agreed.

“They know perfectly well what the Ukrainian president’s personnel policy is like. I do not think they will be overly concerned,” Reiterovych said. “At least, unless Umerov becomes involved in criminal or other cases, the partners will not have any particular questions.”

Yurchyshyn also noted that an intelligence service is entirely a country’s domestic affair. International partners, however, have no interest in other countries maintaining powerful intelligence agencies because some of their work also targets those partners.

“In this case, the partners will probably be pleased,” the lawmaker said. “We are limiting our own use of the mechanisms available to us, including those that could serve interests on which we and our partners may differ.”

NV contacted the National Security and Defense Council’s press office for comment from Umerov but had received no response by publication.