Ukraine President FIRING ORDER Given – An Abrupt Conclusion!
(RightWing.org) – As the Russian war against Ukraine wears on, there are bound to be shifts in allegiances. Modern war is a sophisticated balance between defense and offense. It appears that from the early days of Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy began questioning how the Russian military could easily take much of the eastern part of his country.
On Sunday, July 17, Zelenskyy revealed the results of a deep investigation. The president fired two top officials after investigators learned their subordinates collaborated with Russia after the war started. The Ukrainian president said officials are now cracking down on those he believes committed treason.
Ukraine Charging Hundreds With Treason
On Sunday, Zelenskyy announced the firings of the head of the domestic security agency known as SBU — chief Ivan Bakanov and Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova. It’s the most significant political firing since Russia invaded the former Soviet-era country. The president said he terminated the two senior government officials after the inquiry revealed 651 incidents of treason. Investigators identified 60 officials in the 2 leaders’ agencies were collaborating with Russia in territories it occupied in Eastern Ukraine.
Bakanov was a friend of the president going back to their childhood days. Venediktova played a vital role in prosecuting war crimes. Zelenskyy wrote that the sheer number of treasonous crimes against Ukraine’s national security posed significant questions about the two leaders, insinuating that they could be involved with Russia.
The SBU succeeded the KGB from the Soviet era. It has over 30,000 employees and is close to the same size as the FBI. That’s despite Ukraine being 16 times smaller than the United States.
Decision Was Weeks in the Making
On June 23, Politico reported that Zelenskyy had grown frustrated by his old friend Bakanov and was considering replacing him with someone more suited to serve during a time of war. The president chose his childhood friend in 2019 to serve alongside him, and the two sought to reform the SBU as a show of determination to the West to end corruption.
Still, opposition parties heavily criticized Zelenskyy’s appointment of Bakanov. They expressed grave concern that the new SBU head wasn’t suited for leading a top intelligence agency.
After the investigation into treason, it appears that Zelenskyy arrived at the same conclusion. Officials told Politico their concerns about Bakanov and Venediktova grew after their agencies made critical mistakes in the early days of Russia’s invasion. They said bad decisions led to Russia taking large swaths of Ukrainian territory in the east, including Kherson.
Ukrainian officials believe Russia took Kherson with extreme ease because SBU officials failed to blow up a significant bridge, which allowed Russian soldiers to easily overtake the city.
Zelenskyy has not announced a replacement for the head of the SBU. Regarding the prosecutor general, the president named Oleksiy Symonenko as Venediktova’s replacement.
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