Zelenskyy replaces Ukraine's security chief and hires a Canadian economic adviser

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy replaced the head of Ukraine’s security service Monday, continuing a top-level reshuffle ahead of a trip to Paris where he hoped to finalize agreements with allies on how to ensure that Russia doesn’t repeat its invasion if a peace agreement is signed.

Zelenskyy is trying to revamp his administration as the grinding war of attrition with Russia marks its fourth anniversary next month. He is keen to keep up the momentum of U.S.-led peace talks as well as sharpen Ukraine’s focus on defense if those efforts collapse.

The Paris talks are expected to include the leaders of about 30 countries, dubbed the “coalition of the willing,” which are ready to provide security guarantees to keep Ukraine safe in the future.

Key issues include whether countries are prepared to deploy troops inside or close to Ukraine and what the remit of any force overseeing a ceasefire might be. Russia has said it won’t accept troops from NATO countries on Ukrainian soil.

Zelenskyy also announced the appointment of Canada’s former Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland as Ukraine’s economic development adviser, describing her as an expert on the issues with “significant experience in attracting investment and carrying out economic transformations.”

Amid Ukraine’s biggest top-level reshuffle in about six months, Lt. Gen. Vasyl Maliuk, the head of the Security Service, or SBU, announced his resignation on the agency’s website.

Zelenskyy published a decree on the presidential website appointing Ievhen Khmara, former head of the “A” Special Operations Center of the Security Service, as the agency’s acting head.

Under Maliuk, the SBU produced some stunning successes against Russia, including Operation Spiderweb, which Ukraine said damaged or destroyed 41 Russian military aircraft in coordinated strikes on four air bases.

On Friday, Zelenskyy appointed the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence as his new chief of staff.

Announcing the appointment of Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, Zelenskyy said Ukraine needs to focus on security issues, developing its defense and security forces, and peace talks — areas that are overseen by the office of the president.

Zelenskyy also is looking to strengthen the war-battered economy, including through projects in partnership with the U.S. and other countries. Freeland, who is of Ukrainian heritage and is a strong critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is a former journalist and Canadian lawmaker.

Besides being a former deputy prime minister, she also served as Canada’s minister of international trade, foreign minister and finance minister, and helped negotiate trade agreements with both Europe and the U.S.

The Harvard University graduate has served as Canada’s special representative for the reconstruction of Ukraine — a position outside the Cabinet — in addition to her responsibilities as a lawmaker.

Freeland and U.S. President Donald Trump have had a sometimes-fraught relationship that could work against Ukraine. In Trump’s first term, Freeland played a key role in negotiating the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement, and occasionally frustrated Trump aides with her tactics.

During Trump’s first meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office, the president recalled his own antipathy for Freeland. “She was terrible, actually -- she was a terrible person,” Trump said.

When Freeland left former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Cabinet, Trump said on social media that “her behavior was totally toxic.”

One opposition lawmaker in Canada argued that Freeland could not be a member of the country’s parliament and at the same time work as an adviser to a foreign government.

In his New Year’s address, Zelenskyy said a proposed U.S.-brokered peace deal was “90% ready” but warned that the remaining 10%, believed to include issues such as the future of disputed territory, would determine the outcome of the push for peace.

Moscow hasn't been forthcoming about details of the negotiations. Officials have, however, restated Russia's demands and insist there can be no ceasefire until a comprehensive settlement is agreed.

The fighting has not subsided along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line that snakes along southern and eastern Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said he met with Budanov on Monday to look at ways to reduce Russia's edge in larger armed forces.

“Russia has one significant advantage in this war, namely the ability to put pressure on Ukraine with the scale of strikes, the scale of assaults,” he said on social media. “We have and must respond with more active use of technology, faster development of new types of weapons, new tactics.”

An overnight Russian drone strike at a private clinic in Kyiv’s Obolon district killed a 30-year-old old patient and injured three others, the capital’s prosecutor’s office said Monday.

Energy workers and repair crews worked across the country after Russian drones damaged energy infrastructure, causing more power disruptions for civilians in the bitter winter, Zelenskyy said. Russia fired nine ballistic missiles and 165 long-range drones at Ukraine overnight, the air force said Monday.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone sparked a fire at an industrial facility in Yelets, in Russia’s western Lipetsk region, according to regional Gov. Igor Artamonov. There were no casualties, he said.

The Russian airports of Ivanovo, Nizhny Novgorod and Yaroslavl briefly suspended flights because of Ukrainian drone attacks, authorities said.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported downing another 50 Ukrainian drones later Monday over the Belgorod, Kursk and Lipetsk regions.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

FILE - Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland delivers remarks on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

Medical workers remove the debris in a damaged private clinic after, according to Ukrainian officials, a Russian drone hit a hospital room killing a patient, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Jan 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Medical workers remove the debris in a damaged private clinic after, according to Ukrainian officials, a Russian drone hit a hospital room killing a patient, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Jan 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

A damaged private clinic is seen after, according to Ukrainian officials, a Russian air attack when a drone hit a hospital room killing a patient, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Jan 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Medical workers remove the debris in a damaged private clinic after, according to Ukrainian officials, a Russian drone hit a hospital room killing a patient, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Jan 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Medical workers remove the debris in a damaged private clinic after, according to Ukrainian officials, a Russian drone hit a hospital room killing a patient, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Jan 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Trading on Wall Street was subdued and oil prices retreated modestly as Israel and the United States carried out a wave of attacks that killed 25 people in Iran on Monday ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Futures for the S&P 500 ticked up 0.1%, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%. Nasdaq futures gained 0.3%.

Iran's South Pars natural gas field was among the targets hit Monday. Iran responded with missile fire on Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbors while mediators circulated a new ceasefire proposal.

Among those killed in one of the attacks on Tehran was the head of intelligence for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi, according to Iranian state media and Israel’s defense minister.

Trump, whose deadline expires Monday night Washington time, said that if no deal was reached to reopen the strait, the U.S. would hit Iran’s power plants and other infrastructure targets and send the country “back to the stone ages.”

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran,” he threatened in a social media post on Easter Sunday, adding that if Iran did not open the strait “you’ll be living in Hell.”

In an effort to stop the fighting, Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish mediators have sent Iran and the U.S. a proposal calling for a 45-day ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to give time to try and find a way to end the war, two Mideast officials have told The Associated Press.

Iran and the U.S. have not responded to the proposal, sent late Sunday night to both Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, the officials said.

Despite the new attacks, threats and Trump's looming deadline, oil prices fell early Monday.

Benchmark U.S. crude dropped $1.40 to $110.14 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 45 cents to $108.58 a barrel. Energy markets were closed Friday, but prices have been surging for weeks on fears that the Iran war will drag on longer than expected. U.S. crude is up more than 60% since the war started five weeks ago, while Brent is up close to 50%.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 finished 0.6% higher at 53,413.68. South Korea's Kospi gained 1.4% to 5,450.33. Trading was closed in Australia for Easter; in Hong Kong and Shanghai for a traditional Chinese holiday, and in France, Germany and Britain in observance of Easter.

The U.S. relies on the Persian Gulf for only a fraction of the oil it imports, but oil is a commodity and prices are set in a global market. Some nations, like resource-poor Japan, import a large portion of their energy needs and rely heavily on access to the Strait of Hormuz.

Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told lawmakers recently that Japan was releasing its reserves and was working on alternative routes. South Korea's trade ministry said it plans to send at least five ships to Saudi Arabi in the coming weeks to establish new oil transport routes in the Red Sea.

“As we kick off the first full trading week of April, the word uncertainty is paramount. Last year it was centered on the impact of ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs, this year it's uncertainty surrounding the ongoing Iranian War,” said Jay Woods, analyst at Freedom Capital Markets in New York.

Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama

Screens display financial information on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

U.S. President Donald Trump is seen on a screen as traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders watch monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)