President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had fired officials because of multiple instances of cooperation with Russia among members of their agency.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has issued an executive order firing the Prosecutor General of Ukraine and the head of Ukraine’s powerful Security Service (Sluzhba Bespeky Ukrayiny, or SBU).
Orders late Sunday fired SBU director Ivan Bakanov, a childhood friend of Zelenskyy, and Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, who led the prosecution effort. Russian war crimes in Ukraine, was announced on the official website of the president.
In a separate Telegram post, Zelenskyy said he had fired top officials because many cases had come to light about members of their agency. collaborate with Russia.
He said 651 cases of treason and cooperation have been opened against prosecutors and law enforcement officials, and more than 60 officials from the agencies of Bakanov and Venediktova are currently working against Ukraine in the regions. territory occupied by Russia.
Zelenskyy said: “The series of crimes against the national security foundation of the state… raises very serious questions for the leaders involved.
“Each of these questions should receive an appropriate answer,” he said.
Zelenskyy replaced Venediktova with her deputy Oleksiy Symonenko as the new prosecutor general in a separate executive order also published on the president’s website.
