Ukrainian president dismisses deputy head of security service

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the deputy head of the country’s security services, amid the continued purge of top government officials accused of corruption.

Decrees signed by Zelenskyy and released by the Ukrainian presidency on Monday said deputy head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Oleksandr Yakushev, as well as four other SBU officials, were relieved from their duties.

The four SBU officials were head of the Economic Support Department Oleksandr Provotorov, head of the Department of Protection of State Secrets and Licensing Ihor Nosko, SBU head in the Zaporizhzhia region Borys Bezrukyi, and head of the SBU in the Sumy region Eduard Fedorov.

Zelenskyy later appointed Oleh Khramov and Oleh Krasnoshapka to replace Nosko and Fedorov, respectively, according to separate decrees released by the Ukrainian presidency.

Ukrainian officials either stepped down or were relieved of duties since Jan. 24 after Zelenskyy declared, a day earlier, that he would reshuffle officials at various levels in ministries, central and local administrative bodies, as well as law enforcement, to build “a strong state.”​​​​​​​

Ukraine has long suffered an endemic corruption, but Russia's “special military operation” is said to have overshadowed the government's efforts to stamp out graft.

On Feb. 2, lawmakers in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, approved Vasyl Malyuk as the new head of the SBU, who was already serving as the acting head of the service since last June when Zelenskyy fired Ivan Bakanov as the agency’s chief.