Zelensky dismisses Heletei, appoints new chief of State Guard Department

A respective decree, No. 334/2019, has been posted on the website of the head of state.

By another decree, No. 333/2019, Valeriy Heletei was dismissed from the post of chief of the State Guard Department of Ukraine.

Heletei on May 22 tendered his resignation from the post that he held since October 2014.

According to a report posted on the president's website, the head of state received recommendations on Lieutenant Colonel Oleksiy Otserklevych, a participant in the fighting for the Donetsk airport, from current officers, war veterans, volunteers, and journalists.

"I believe such officers as Oleksiy Otserklevych, as well as professional sergeants and ordinary soldiers, who voluntarily joined the army in 2014 and who were then driven out of the Armed Forces by the military bureaucracy, must be promoted and brought back to active service. I am convinced that Oleksiy Otserklevych will cope with new complicated tasks decently. After all, it won't be easy for him with me, as I am planning to go to people as often as I can. Despite the risks that the workers of the State Guard Department see in this," Zelensky said, commenting on the appointment.

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