Ukraine's anti-graft agencies probe possible SBU role in high-profile case, report firearm threats during searches

Editor's note: This story is being updated.

Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies said on Nov. 4 they had exposed a criminal group accused of "systematically bribing" senior law enforcement officials to secure protection for scam call centers and other illegal businesses.

The latest development is part of a broader investigation into an alleged network protecting scam call centers. In September, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) uncovered a scheme allegedly involving senior officials from the Prosecutor General's Office.

The revelations brought down then-Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, who subsequently fled the country.

NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) said the newly exposed scheme involved senior officials from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the National Police, and the Prosecutor General's Office, as well as "members of criminal groups."

Earlier on Nov. 4, the bureau had searched the premises of SBU officials under a warrant issued by Ukraine's High Anti-Corruption Court.

The anti-graft agency said a senior SBU official was obstructing the searches, even threatening to use a firearm.

Ukrainska Pravda media outlet reported, citing its undisclosed sources, that the official was Major General Serhii Duka, the first deputy head of the SBU's Department for the Protection of National Statehood.

The bureau also said that SBU special forces had arrived at the scene. NABU called the steps by the security service "unacceptable."

Two other officials whose premises were reportedly searched by NABU earlier in the day were Colonel Anton Kravchenko, the head of the SBU's Main Directorate of Internal Security, and Oleksandr Kovalchuk, the first deputy head of the SBU's Department for the Protection of National Statehood.

The SBU has not commented on the allegations.

The anti-corruption agencies and the SBU have been locked in a long-running conflict, seen as part of a wider struggle between NABU and the President's Office. Last summer, the government attempted to curb the independence of anti-corruption agencies, triggering nationwide protests.

Since then, the anti-graft agencies have investigated multiple senior officials and allies of President Volodymyr Zelensky, while continuing to report pressure from the SBU. In 2025, the security service arrested several NABU employees over alleged links to Russia, describing the operation as an effort to counter Russian influence within the bureau.

The Anti-Corruption Action Center (AntAC), an independent watchdog, previously linked Duka to searches targeting NABU employees in 2025.

The watchdog said he may have partly overseen the SBU's operation against NABU detectives, including Ruslan Mahamedrasulov, who had been investigating Ukraine's largest corruption case involving the state-run nuclear power monopoly Energoatom.

The court later released the two detained detectives and closed the case, while critics called their arrests a political vendetta.