President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed Ruslan Demchenko from the post of First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) by his decree.

Relevant document No. 528/2022 was published on the presidential website on Monday.

"To dismiss Demchenko Ruslan Mykhailovych from the post of First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine," according to the document.

In November 2021, a number of media outlets disseminated information about Demchenko's alleged involvement in lobbying in 2010, the so-called "Kharkiv agreements" with Russia.

In response, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Demchenko did not sign "Kharkiv agreements" as deputy foreign minister. "As a deputy foreign minister, he did not sign any Kharkiv agreements, but there are law enforcement agencies for this, let them investigate, he testifies in law enforcement agencies," the head of state said.

Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhny and Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov also spoke in defense of Demchenko.