Zelensky fires Security Council deputy secretary Demchenko

President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree to fire Ruslan Demchenko, first deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (RNBO), on July 25. Demchenko has occupied the post since June 2020. According to an investigation by RFE/RL's program Schemes published in November 2021, Demchenko lobbied for the signing of the so-called Kharkiv accords in 2010, an agreement between Ukraine and Russia that in exchange for some discounts on gas allowed Russia to extend the lease of its naval base in Crimea and eventually helped Russia in its 2014 occupation of the Ukrainian peninsula.