The Power Within: The Kyiv Independent’s first-ever magazine. Be among the first to get it.

pre-order now
Skip to content
Edit post

Zelensky dismisses SBU cybersecurity chief following media investigation

by Kateryna Denisova and The Kyiv Independent news desk May 1, 2024 9:17 PM 2 min read
Illia Vitiuk, the former chief of the cyber security department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). (Ukrainian Security Service)
This audio is created with AI assistance

Illia Vitiuk — the former cybersecurity chief of Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) who was suspended from his post following an investigation into his personal finances — was formally dismissed by a presidential decree issued on May 1.

The investigative outlet Slidstvo.Info wrote on April 4 that Vitiuk's family had purchased real estate worth at least Hr 25.5 million (roughly $645,000) in market value.

Vitiuk's wife reportedly started making big earnings after her husband was appointed to the job and bought an apartment in a premium residential complex in Kyiv below the market price.

The National Agency on Corruption Prevention reportedly began monitoring Vitiuk following the revelations.

The outlet said that its journalist who led the investigation, Yevhenii Shulhat, was later targeted by enlistment officers in retaliation. The officers were allegedly accompanied by an SBU officer from Vitiuk's department.

The SBU announced days later that Vitiuk had been suspended and sent to the front while the inquiry into Slidstvo.Info's revelations was underway.

The Prosecutor General's Office announced in early April that it had opened a criminal investigation into possible abuse of office and obstruction of a journalist's professional activities by SBU employees and military enlistment officers following the incident.

This was only the latest incident in what the Ukrainian media view as mounting pressure against the press. In January, Bihus.Info published an investigation that revealed months of surveillance of its team by the SBU's Department for Protection of National Statehood department.

President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed the head of this department, Roman Semenchenko, on Jan. 31.

Recent campaigns against journalists raise concerns about press freedom in Ukraine
Investigative journalists in Ukraine came under two attacks in just the past week, one involving a threatening home visit and another using covert surveillance. The two incidents are the latest in a series of discrediting campaigns against independent Ukrainian media, often supported by anonymous p…


News Feed

8:06 AM

Zelensky arrives in South Africa to meet President Ramaphosa.

"We count on South Africa’s meaningful participation in the International Coalition for the return of thousands of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. We will also certainly strengthen our cultural and educational ties," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
5:30 AM

Trump says he may meet Putin 'shortly' after May Middle East visit.

Despite ongoing ceasefire negotiations, Trump and Putin have yet to have direct contact, communicating only through their officials. Trump's last in-person encounter with his Russian counterpart was during the 2018 Helsinki Summit during the U.S. president's first term.
8:08 PM

Ukrainians react to US proposal of recognizing Crimea as Russian.

The U.S. media outlet Axios reported on April 23 that the U.S. President Donald Trump administration's final proposal for ending the Russia-Ukraine war included the U.S. de jure recognizing Russia's annexation of Crimea and de facto recognizing its control of other occupied Ukrainian territories. We asked Kyiv residents for their reactions to the U.S. proposal.
7:21 PM  (Updated: )

Trump says 'nobody is asking' Ukraine to recognize Crimea as Russian.

"Nobody is asking (President Volodymyr) Zelensky to recognize Crimea as Russian Territory, but if he wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it eleven years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired?" U.S. President Donald Trump wrote.
MORE NEWS

Editors' Picks

Enter your email to subscribe
Please, enter correct email address
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required

Subscribe

* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan
* indicates required
Successfuly subscribed
Thank you for signing up for this newsletter. We’ve sent you a confirmation email.