Ukraine Names New Cybersecurity Coordination Chief Amid Leadership Reshuffle

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appointed Ihor Klymenko, a former law enforcement official, to head the country's National Cybersecurity Coordination Center (NCCC). The NCCC, which operates under Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, coordinates government agency responses to major cyberthreats and oversees the nation's cybersecurity strategy. Klymenko replaces Rustem Umerov in the role.

While Klymenko does not have a technical cybersecurity background, he brings extensive law enforcement experience. He led Ukraine's National Police from 2019, an organisation that includes the country's cyber police department, before becoming interior minister in 2023 and head of the National Security and Defense Council in August 2026. Zelensky has said this experience will help coordinate the country's response to Russian cyber operations and criminal networks.

The appointment is part of a broader reshuffle of Ukraine's security and law enforcement leadership, which has also seen new appointments to the defense ministry and the Security Service of Ukraine, alongside the dismissal of the country's Prosecutor General amid corruption allegations.