The deputy head of the presidential office, Andriy Smirnov, has said that the removal from duty of Prosecutor-General Iryna Venediktova and Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) chief Ivan Bakanov does not mean they were dismissed
The Ukrainian president will make a decision on their dismissal after an office investigation, Smirnov said on the air of the TV marathon.
"Right now it is not a question of firing the two officials yet. We are talking about the fact that the prosecutor-general has been suspended and the head of the Security Service has been temporarily removed from his duties. This is due to the fact that the president... well, we have all been waiting long enough for more concrete and possibly radical results from the heads of these two bodies to purge these bodies of collaborators and traitors," he said.
However, in the sixth month of the war, "packs" of collaborators are still being exposed, he added.
"And in order to make it impossible for the potential influence of these two officials (on cases) that are being investigated against employees of the Security Service of Ukraine who are reasonably suspected of collaborating with the aggressor state, and also as regards the prosecutor - the president has taken appropriate decisions to remove and suspend them," Smirnov said.
After the office investigation, Zelenskyy will decide whether or not to submit to parliament a motion to dismiss the prosecutor-general and replace the SBU chief.