KYIV, Jan 5 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that he planned to replace the head of the country’s SBU security service, Vasyl Maliuk, as part of a wider reshuffle that has also seen a new presidential chief of staff.

Maliuk was appointed SBU chief in February 2023, having already served as acting head for months before.

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The SBU said he also oversaw a strike on a Russian submarine and three attacks on the bridge connecting Russia to the occupied Crimean peninsula, a crucial logistical node for Moscow.

Maliuk has been praised by analysts for improving the SBU’s effectiveness, after his predecessor Ivan Bakanov was dismissed by Zelenskiy in July 2022 for failing to root out Russian spies.

Zelenskiy said on X that he had asked Maliuk instead to focus more on combat operations, adding: “There must be more Ukrainian asymmetric operations against the occupier and the Russian state, and more solid results in eliminating the enemy.”

The move comes days after Zelenskiy announced military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov would become his new chief of staff, and that he would seek to appoint new defence and energy ministers.

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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Monday condemned what she described as U.S. intervention in Venezuela and rejected the idea of American troops entering Mexico, reaffirming her government’s commitment to national sovereignty.

“We categorically reject intervention in the internal affairs of other countries,” Sheinbaum said at a press conference in Mexico City, according to an official transcript of the speech released by her office.

“The history of Latin America is clear and forceful, the intervention has never brought democracy, it has never generated well-being or lasting stability. Only people can build their own future, decide their path, exercise sovereignty over their natural resources and freely define their form of government,” she said.

The U.S. military on Saturday carried out an operation in Caracas, extracting former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their compound.

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Maduro and Flores were boarded onto USS Iwo Jima and flown to New York to face federal charges, with their arraignment taking place on Monday in Manhattan.

Maduro is charged with four counts: narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine-guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine-guns and destructive devices.

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His wife is charged with three counts: cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine-guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine-guns and destructive devices.

Sheinbaum said that following the capture of Venezuela’s leader and his wife, and amid warnings from President Donald Trump that Mexico must “get their act together,” Mexican sovereignty and self-determination remain non-negotiable.

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he thinks Sheinbaum is a “terrific person,” but the cartels are “running Mexico.”

“We’re going to have to do something. We’d love Mexico to do it, they’re capable of doing it, but unfortunately the cartels are very strong in Mexico,” Trump said.

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Sheinbaum said her country is cooperating with the United States to help fight against drug trafficking, organized crime and the flow of fentanyl.

“I don’t believe in an invasion. I don’t even think it’s something they’re taking very seriously,” Sheinbaum told reporters in Spanish when asked about a potential U.S. intervention, according to Reuters’ translation of her remarks.

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She said Trump has repeatedly insisted during their phone conversations that the U.S. Army be allowed to enter Mexico.

“We have said no very firmly — first because we defend our sovereignty, and second because it is not necessary,” Sheinbaum told reporters.

France, Germany and Italy are the three European Union countries experiencing a worsening environment for civil society, according to a report by CIVICUS, the global alliance of civil society organisations and activists.

All three member states were downgraded from “narrowed” to “obstructed” — the third-lowest of five possible categories.

The annual report tracks the state of freedom of association, peaceful assembly and expression in 198 countries and territories, rating them as open, narrowed, obstructed, repressed or closed.

Across Europe, the most frequently reported violations include the detention of protesters, disruption of demonstrations, attacks on journalists, use of excessive force and public vilification.

“Far fewer people in Europe can exercise fundamental freedoms without significant barriers, largely due to intensifying crackdowns on protests and human rights defenders in some of Europe’s largest democracies,” Tara Petrović, Europe and Central Asia researcher for the CIVICUS Monitor, said.

“European leaders, particularly within the EU, must push back on these trends so that the continent remains at the forefront of protecting rights and civic space.”

France’s downgrade reflects an accumulation of growing restrictions on peaceful protests and freedom of expression, alongside the misuse of laws to dissolve NGOs and intimidate activists in recent years.

Meanwhile, Germany’s civic space deterioration has occurred “at an alarming rate”, according to the report.

The drop is due to repression of those demonstrating for climate justice, migrant rights and against austerity measures.

“German authorities have paired political pressure with heavy-handed policing to suppress free expression, from storming a relocated event with UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese to monitoring students who livestreamed it,” the report noted.

The situation for civil society in Italy has worsened following new laws passed in 2025 that introduced dozens of new criminal offences, including harsher penalties for peaceful protests.

In Europe, Georgia and Serbia moved to the “repressed” category, the second-worst civic space rating, while Switzerland changed to “narrowed”.

This shift is largely due to intensifying crackdowns on human rights defenders and protests in some of Europe’s largest democracies.