Zelensky appoints former police chief to lead Ukraine’s cyber coordination center

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appointed former law enforcement official Ihor Klymenko to lead the country’s national cybersecurity coordination center, putting him in charge of a body that oversees government responses to major cyberthreats.

The National Cybersecurity Coordination Center (NCCC) operates under Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) and brings together government agencies responsible for cybersecurity. It was previously headed by Rustem Umerov, a former secretary of the council.

Zelensky has previously said Klymenko’s experience would be useful in coordinating Ukraine’s defense and security agencies and confronting threats including Russian cyber operations and criminal networks.

Created in 2016, the NCCC monitors cyberthreats facing Ukraine, coordinates the work of government agencies responsible for cybersecurity and oversees the country’s national cybersecurity strategy.

While Klymenko does not appear to have a technical cybersecurity background, his previous roles put him in charge of agencies involved in fighting cybercrime and responding to Russian cyberthreats.

He headed Ukraine’s National Police from 2019, overseeing an organization that includes the country’s cyber police department. In 2023, he became interior minister, a role that gave him responsibility for several law enforcement and emergency agencies. He was appointed head of the NSDC in August 2026.

Klymenko was also considered by Zelensky as a possible candidate for defense minister following the abrupt dismissal of Mykhailo Fedorov.

His appointment comes amid a broader reshuffle of Ukraine’s security and law enforcement leadership.

In July, intelligence and counterterrorism official Yevhenii Khmara was appointed acting defense minister. His first deputy, Oleksandr Poklad, subsequently became acting head of the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, which handles counterintelligence and other domestic security issues.

Separately, Ukraine’s parliament earlier this week approved the dismissal of Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko amid allegations that officials in his office accepted bribes to protect scam call centers from law enforcement.