Ukraine's parliament has approved a proposal by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to fire Prosecutor-General Iryna Venediktova, two days after he announced he was removing her and another top security official from their posts over dozens of alleged cases of collaboration with Russia by officials at agencies they supervise.
Lawmaker David Arakhamia confirmed on Telegram the July 19 vote in the Verkhovna Rada to support Zelenskiy's move, which has put a spotlight on Kyiv's battle to purge its powerful security agencies of collaborators and Russian agents after Moscow launched a war against Ukraine on February 24.
Two other lawmakers said Ivan Bakanov, the head of the Security Service (SBU) and a lifelong friend of the president's, had also been removed from his post.
Venediktova has said she will not comment on the substance of her suspension now but will give a comprehensive statement later after the current situation regarding her status is settled.
Arakhamia said Venediktova was still part of Zelenskiy's team and that with her experience she "will serve the state in a new place that needs to be strengthened by professional managers and lawyers."
This might be a diplomatic post, Arakhamia said.
"We talked, and in principle we can say that she voluntarily resigned from her post by agreement of the parties," Arakhamia said on Ukrainian television. "We are waiting for her new appointment on the diplomatic front in a few days or maybe a week."
In announcing the suspensions of Venediktova and Bakanov on July 17, Zelenskiy said 651 cases had been opened into suspected treason and collaboration by prosecutors and law enforcement officials, and that more than 60 people from Bakanov's and Venediktova's agencies were now working against Kyiv in Russian-occupied Ukraine.
Zelenskiy continued the purge on July 19 by sacking the deputy head of the SBU and four regional SBU heads.
In a related move, the State Bureau of Investigations (DBR) said in a statement on July 19 that the former chief of the SBU's directorate for Crimea, Oleh Kulinich, had been placed in pretrial detention on a charge of high treason. He will remain in custody until at least September 13.
Kulinich, who led the SBU's directorate for Ukraine's Russian-occupied Crimea from October 2020 until March this year, was arrested on July 16 on suspicion of collaboration with Russian secret services. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
