Zelensky said late on Sunday that more than 60 officials from the SBU security service and the prosecution service were working against Ukraine in Russian-occupied areas, and that more than 650 treason and collaboration cases had been started against law enforcement officials.
"I decided to remove the Prosecutor General from her post and remove the head of the Security Service of Ukraine," Zelensky said in a video address, as cited by the ukrinform.net website.
He added: "As of today, 651 criminal proceedings have been registered regarding high treason and collaborative activities of employees of prosecutor's offices, pretrial inquiry bodies, and other law enforcement agencies. In 198 criminal proceedings, charges were pressed against the relevant individuals."
Zelensky also said in his message that "such an array of crimes against the foundations of the country’s national security and the connections that have been exposed between the employees of the security agencies of Ukraine and Russia’s special services" raised "very serious questions" and that "each of these questions will see a proper answer."
A senior Zelensky aide clarified on Monday that the security service chief, Ivan Bakanov, and Prosecutor-General Iryna Venediktova, who led efforts to prosecute Russian war crimes, had been suspended pending further investigation, rather than fired, the Reuters news agency reported.
Monday is day 145 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(gs)
Source: PAP, ukrinform.net, Reuters