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.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that he does not care who paid for the illegal surveillance of Bihus.Info journalists, since the head of the relevant Security Service of Ukraine department has been fired and investigators will be able to discover the truth.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has said in a response to an inquiry that its employees involved in the surveillance of Bihus.Info journalists have been deployed to the zone of military operations, including Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
Three employees “have been transferred to carry out operational and combat duties in the combat zone, in particular in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts,” the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said on Feb. 15 in response to the Bihus.Info inquiry into the illegal surveillance and wiretapping of its investigative team.
The investigative journalism project Bihus.Info has submitted a request to Ukraine's Security Service (SSU) regarding the awarding of the Order of Danylo Halytskyi to Roman Semenchenko, Head of the Department for the Protection of National Statehood, who was later fired after spying on journalists, and to Ihor Kravchenko, an SSU officer involved in the surveillance.