In a quiet but consequential move, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council announced on October 1 that Anait Khoperia would take over as acting director of the Center for Countering Disinformation. The announcement, shared on the NSDC’s official Facebook page, may look like a routine administrative update, but in Ukraine, this is not routine at all. The Center sits at the very heart of the country’s information defense, monitoring the media space, identifying hostile narratives, exposing coordinated disinformation, and helping institutions respond to manipulation that often comes from Russia. Khoperia has been part of this effort since June 2021, joining first as an international cooperation manager and gradually climbing through the ranks until she became deputy director and, now, interim leader. Her appointment signals continuity at a delicate moment. Just three days earlier, on September 28, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree dismissing her predecessor, Andriy Kovalenko, without making the reasons public. In such a sensitive environment, the choice of an insider like Khoperia suggests the government wants stability, institutional knowledge, and experience rather than a dramatic change of direction. She is not walking into an unfamiliar building or trying to learn the names of colleagues on the fly. She already knows the Center’s strengths, weaknesses, unfinished projects, and international relationships. More than that, she has spent years watching how disinformation campaigns evolve, how they target Ukrainian society, and how they try to exploit fear, division, and fatigue. Her new title may start with the word “acting,” but her authority is rooted in something deeper: she has earned the confidence of the institution she now leads, and she steps into her role with a full understanding of how much is at stake.
Khoperia’s background is not that of a classic media analyst or intelligence officer. She is a lawyer by training, and that legal foundation has shaped the way she approaches problems and responsibilities. In 2015, she graduated from the Law Faculty of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv with a master’s degree in law. Years later, in 2023, she successfully defended her dissertation and earned a Ph.D. in Law from the Academician F. G. Burchak Research Institute of Private Law and Entrepreneurship of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine. Her early career reveals a steady accumulation of insight into how the Ukrainian state operates, both internally and on the international stage. From 2015 to 2016, she worked as an assistant to an international expert at the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, a position supported by the British Embassy, where she gained exposure to anti-corruption efforts and the role of international partners. From 2018 to 2019, she served as a senior specialist in the Department of International Disputes at the Ministry of Justice, working on cases that required careful legal reasoning and an understanding of how Ukraine presents itself in international forums. Following that, she spent two years as a state inspector in the Legal Support Department of the State Tax Service, learning the complexities of legal compliance inside a heavy bureaucracy. From 2020 to 2021, she shifted slightly in focus, working in international cooperation at the Department of Information Policy and Public Relations of JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia,” the national railway company. This may seem like an unusual mix, but each role added a new layer to her understanding: the fight against corruption, the language of international law, the mechanics of state institutions, and the communication strategies needed to explain complicated decisions to ordinary people. All of these experiences made her unusually well prepared for a career in countering disinformation, a field that demands precision, patience, and a legal understanding of facts, evidence, and accountability.
Since joining the Center for Countering Disinformation in June 2021, Khoperia has followed an upward path that reflects not only her competence but also her willingness to take on increasingly difficult work. She began as an international cooperation manager, helping the Center build bridges with foreign institutions and counter foreign propaganda through collaboration. Later, she took charge of the Department for Countering Information Threats to National Security, one of the most operationally demanding units in the organization. In that role, she was responsible for identifying threats, analyzing coordinated influence operations, and helping to craft responses that would protect the country from hostile narratives. Eventually, she became deputy head of the entire Center, making her a direct partner to the director and a central coordinator of the institution’s daily activities. This is not the kind of career that happens by accident. It requires trust, careful political awareness, and a proven ability to work under pressure. Her colleagues have seen her engage with sensitive information, shape public messaging, and interact with partners from governments and international organizations. Her promotion to acting director, therefore, does not feel like a gamble. It feels like the natural continuation of a path built through years of dedication. The Center she now leads is still young—it was officially established only in 2021—but it has grown into one of Ukraine’s most important tools in the information war. By choosing someone from inside its walls, Ukrainian authorities have made it clear that they value the knowledge already accumulated and want to avoid losing momentum. For Khoperia, this means her first priorities will be to maintain the Center’s core functions, preserve partnerships, and make sure her team remains agile in the face of increasingly sophisticated disinformation.
Khoperia is also far from being invisible on the international stage. She has represented the Center at some of the most important security-related forums in Europe. In 2023, she took part in the Riga Conference, an annual gathering in Latvia where Western leaders, diplomats, and policy experts discuss threats to national and international security. There, she spoke about the Center’s work and the ongoing fight against Russian disinformation, sharing Ukraine’s experience with allies who are trying to understand how to counter similar threats in their own countries. In 2026, she participated in further international meetings focused on information threats. In particular, in July, together with representatives of the Center and the European External Action Service, she helped present a report exposing Russian information campaigns aimed at undermining Ukraine’s European orientation. This is a critical area of work because Russia has consistently tried to convince ordinary people, both inside and outside Ukraine, that the country’s European path is dangerous, damaging, or somehow illegitimate. By helping to expose those campaigns, Khoperia has taken an active role in defending Ukraine’s foreign policy choices and democratic aspirations. Her involvement in such events also shows that she is comfortable not only in secure meeting rooms but also on public stages, where arguments must be clear and persuasive. Beyond these official duties, she has invested in her own growth as a leader. She completed training programs at Aspen Institute Kyiv and Total Defense, both of which are known for developing strategic thinking, resilience, and responsible leadership. She also took part in the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program, a prestigious exchange designed to build networks and share best practices among emerging leaders. These experiences gave her a wider perspective on governance, civil society, and alliance building, and they will likely shape how she leads the Center in her new role.
To understand what Khoperia’s appointment really means, it helps to look at who she is following. Andriy Kovalenko had served as head of the Center for Countering Disinformation since January 2024. His tenure ended on September 28, when President Zelenskyy signed Decree No. 971/2026 dismissing him. The official announcement did not provide a reason, leaving much room for speculation. In Ukraine’s security establishment, such silent departures are not unusual, but they still create uncertainty. Institutions lose leaders, and outside observers try to read meaning into unclear signals. Khoperia’s rapid promotion to acting director helped close that gap within days. It told the public and the international community that the Center would carry on without a disruptive pause. The Center for Countering Disinformation is, after all, no ordinary government department. It is a unit within the National Security and Defense Council, which means it sits close to the country’s highest security decisions. Its job is to monitor the information space, identify threats to national security, and counter disinformation campaigns, especially those that come from Russia. Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the Center has worked relentlessly to cut through the fog of lies, exposing false narratives, predicting Russian messaging, and assisting in the protection of the country’s information resilience. This is not a task that can be safely interrupted. Khoperia’s appointment is therefore deeply practical. She knows the ongoing operations, she knows the partners, and she knows the internal mechanics of the Center. At a moment when stability is a security asset, her continuity is crucial. While the lack of explanation for Kovalenko’s dismissal may never be fully clarified, the choice of an experienced successor suggests that the system is still working, still protecting its institutions, and still moving forward.
Looking ahead, Khoperia’s new role places her at the center of a rapidly changing battlefield. Disinformation is not limited to traditional fake news or clumsy propaganda. It now includes deepfakes, artificial intelligence, coordinated social media campaigns, encrypted messaging channels, and sophisticated attempts to alter public perception before events even happen. Ukraine has seen all of these tactics, and the Center has had to learn how to counter them in real time. Khoperia will now be the one guiding that approach, not just as an administrator but as someone who has spent years studying how these methods work, how they are deployed, and how they can be neutralized. Her legal training will be important when it comes to setting standards, preserving evidence, and supporting actions that can be defended in public and before international partners. Her communication experience will matter just as much, because the Center’s findings only have value if they reach people clearly and convincingly. This is the human side of the fight. Behind every coordinated campaign there are real people who are being misled, confused, or frightened. Khoperia’s work must help them understand what they are seeing and why they should trust verified sources of information. In her new position, she is not just a manager; she is a defender of clarity itself. Her story is ultimately a story about public service in a time of war. It is the story of a lawyer who answered a national call, learned the inner workings of the state, traveled the world to build alliances, and returned to take responsibility at a difficult hour. There will be no fanfare, no dramatic headlines, and no easy victories. But the quiet defeats of disinformation campaigns that never reach the public eye will be the measure of her leadership. In that sense, Khoperia’s appointment is not merely a change in job title. It is another act of resilience in a country where truth itself has become a frontline, and she has accepted the task of defending it.