Ukrainian President Zelensky on Sunday announced firing and/or arresting three security and intelligence officials of his government, because scores of their agents and employees “remained in the occupied zone and collaborated with Russia.” CNN reported July 17 that Zelensky, in his nightly address on Sunday night, said, “"Today I made a decision to remove the Prosecutor General from office and to dismiss the Head of the Security Service of Ukraine.” These, reported CNN, were “Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and State Security Service (SBU) head Ivan Bakanov, a long-time associate of the president.” “Zelensky said many officials within both departments were suspected of treason.”
The Hill and Politico, which circulate in Congressional offices, also covered the story prominently Sunday.
Zelensky has recently also purged two army generals, but these intelligence/security purges point to more serious problems of extensive support for Russia among security operatives in the East of the country. The President is further quoted in the broadcast address: “As of today, 651 criminal proceedings have been registered regarding treason and collaboration activities of employees of prosecutor’s offices, pretrial investigation bodies, and other law enforcement agencies. In particular, more than 60 employees of the prosecutor’s office and the Security Service of Ukraine remained in the occupied territory and are working against our state.”
