Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and SBU chief Ivan Bakanov have been fired from their positions effective Sunday, President Vladimir Zelensky announced by presidential decree, citing a high number of cases of treason among law enforcement and the intelligence service.
Some 651 criminal cases relating to high treason and “collaboration activities” had been registered on law enforcement employees, while more than 60 SBU agents were supposedly “working against our state,” Zelensky announced on Sunday, explaining this rationale for firing the senior officials.
Bakanov was removed under Article 47 of the Disciplinary Statute of the Ukrainian military, which refers to failure in official duties “which caused loss of life or other grave consequences or create a threat of such consequences.” His replacement has not yet been named.
Venediktova, who had served as Ukraine’s prosecutor general since March 2020, has been replaced by Oleksiy Symonenko.
Zelensky has dismissed a number of staffers recently, firing five ambassadors last week, including the ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk. The ambassadors to Hungary, Czech Republic, Norway, and a fifth ambassador with responsibility for India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh were all let go.