Ukraine’s president has appointed an experienced security official as acting head of the domestic security agency after a shake-up that has renewed questions over Russian intelligence infiltration of key ministries and suggested divisions within Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s inner circle.
After recent anonymous briefings against Zelenskiy’s childhood friend Ivan Bakanov – who had been in charge of the 30,000-strong state security service, the SBU, since 2019 – over claims of failure to counter Russian infiltration, he was abruptly suspended on Sunday along with the prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, who had been leading war crimes investigations.
