Zelenskyy appoints new deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed former government official David Aloyan as deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council under Rustem Umerov. The relevant decree appeared on the President's website.

Earlier, in April 2025, Aloyan was appointed deputy on European integration to then minister of Strategic Industries Herman Smetanin.

During the July reset of the government, the Ministry of Strategic Industries was joined to the Ministry of Defense.

Aloyan has not yet commented on his new appointment. In August, after four months of work at the Ministry of Strategic Industries, he wrote that "new tasks are ahead in a new role".

At the same time, he pointed out that since the beginning of 2025, the Ministry, among other things, has managed to attract more than $4 billion in investment in arms production through a number of mechanisms.

• When appointing Umerov as NSDC secretary in July, Zelenskyy said that the department's first task was to continue working with allies on arms agreements.
• Umerov leads Ukrainian delegation in talks with Russia in the Istanbul format. Also, in early September, the NSDC Secretary, together with the head of the OP Yermak participated in negotiations with US special envoy Witkoff and advisors to European leaders on the sidelines of the "coalition of the willing" meeting in Paris.