Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has sacked the commander of his country’s Special Operations Forces — the latest of several recent high-profile firings that have rocked Ukraine’s military and intelligence communities amid Russia’s invasion of the country.
Zelensky signed decrees on Monday dismissing Hryhoriy Anatoliyovych Halahan and appointing Viktor Oleksandrovych Khorenko in his stead. Halahan had served in the position since his appointment in August 2020, according to TASS.
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Halahan had extensive service in Ukraine’s special forces, previously serving as deputy chief of Ukraine’s Security Service’s, or SBU’s, anti-terrorism unit. He had experience in operations fighting in the separatist Donbas region from 2014-19.
Halahan joins a cadre of high-ranking officials who have been the targets of a recent purge of Ukraine’s top brass. Increasing paranoia and frustration with perceived shortcomings in the Ukrainian military and intelligence community has led Zelensky to sack or arrest several top officials, most under accusations of treason, according to the Hill. Even Zelensky’s trusted childhood friend, Ivan Bakanov, head of the SBU, is among those who have been sacked.
Oleh Kulinich, the former head of the SBU’s department in Crimea, was fired in March before being arrested last week under accusations of collaboration with the Russians. His arrest was part of what Zelensky called a “self-cleansing” of the security services, according to the New Voice of Ukraine. The Ukrainian government claims that 1,234 Ukrainian citizens are being investigated as traitors or collaborators, with many among these being government officials and staff. Zelensky said 651 of these are directed at people within security and law enforcement.
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Fear of traitors and “saboteurs” has extended to others in Ukraine’s government.
Vitaly Kim, a social media star and governor of Nikolaev, a crucial city in Ukraine’s south close to the front line, told the Telegraph in an interview on Saturday that he plans to shut down the city completely to “root out” saboteurs and spies. “I suspect everybody,” he said while cryptically adding that the government is developing a “secret plan” to rid the region of collaborators.
