Ukraine’s Security Service confirms searches involving its employees

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) confirmed on 4 November that anti-corruption authorities were conducting searches involving its employees. In a statement from its press service, the agency said it was cooperating with investigators and supported an objective and impartial investigation into the matters covered by the criminal proceedings.

The SSU identified the agencies carrying out the searches that morning as the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO). According to the statement, the investigative actions formed part of several criminal proceedings and were being conducted under the relevant court orders.

The statement did not address reports from NABU and SAPO about an alleged confrontation during a search. The two anti-corruption agencies said a senior SSU official had threatened to use a firearm and prevented their detectives from entering the premises where they intended to carry out investigative actions.

According to NABU and SAPO, the detectives were acting lawfully under a warrant issued by an investigating judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court. Ukrainska Pravda reported that it had learned the official involved was General Serhii Duka. The SSU’s response offered no comment on the reported threat or obstruction.

Separately, sources told Ukrainska Pravda on 4 November that searches involved Anton Kravchuk, who heads the SSU’s Main Internal Security Directorate. That information came from the outlet’s sources, while the SSU press service referred more broadly to searches involving employees in its confirmation of the investigative activity that morning.

The same reporting also identified Oleksandr Kovalchuk as an official involved in the searches. Kovalchuk serves as First Deputy Head of Directorate D within the SSU’s Department for the Protection of National Statehood. Both his name and Kravchuk’s were reported by Ukrainska Pravda on the basis of source information.

Sources also told the outlet that the searches involving senior SSU officials might be connected to the activities of Andrii Osipov, nicknamed “Criminal”. Osipov had previously been detained by NABU and SAPO. The sources described that connection as a possibility. The SSU statement confirmed the searches and its cooperation with the investigative authorities, without addressing the possible link reported by Ukrainska Pravda.