By removing the SBU’s deputy director, President Volodymyr Zelensky has continued his purging of the organization.
Volodymyr Horbenko is the most recent officer to be fired after Mr. Zelensky claimed that agency managers did not successfully purge pro-Russian elements from the organization.
According to Mr. Zelensky, regional chiefs in a number of other cities were also fired.
Ivan Bakanov, the head of the SBU, and Iryna Venediktova, the prosecutor general, were both fired by a vote of MPs.
After the president originally appeared to fire the pair in a late-night address, Mr. Zelensky’s adviser suggested on Monday that they had simply been suspended awaiting an investigation.
However, the pair were the subject of a motion of no-confidence presented by the Ukrainian president to parliament on Tuesday that was overwhelmingly supported by lawmakers.
