Zelenskyy fired the head of the State Security Department

Serhiy Rud, photo: Office of State Security of Ukraine

Today, May 9, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, dismissed Serhii Rud from the post of head of the State Security Office of Ukraine.

This is stated in order No. 317/2024 on the website of the Office of the President.

The reasons for the official's dismissal are not specified.

«Dismiss Rudy Serhii Leonidovych from the position of head of the State Security Office of Ukraine,» the decree reads.

Serhii Rud headed the State Security Department since October 2019. Prior to that, he held the position of deputy head of the Security Service of the President of Ukraine at the Ukrainian National Security Agency.

It will be recalled that the Security Service of Ukraine exposed a network of agents of the 5th service of the FSS of the Russian Federation who were preparing the assassination of President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, the head of the SSU Vasyl Maliuk and the head of intelligence Kyrylo Budanov.

The agency added that the organization of the terrorist attack was overseen by employees of the 9th Department of the Operational Information Department of the 5th Service: ⁠Maxim Mishustin, ⁠Dmytro Perlin and ⁠Aleksii Korniev.

In particular, according to the SBU, in January 2022 Dmytro Perlin became the curator of the «moles», who were recruited even before the full-scale invasion of Russia. Until then, his colleague Oleksiy Kornev was «taking care» of them.

Before the start of the full-scale war, Oleksii Korniev held a series of conspiratorial meetings with the SSD colonel on the territory of neighboring European states. Funds for agents were also usually transferred abroad, the report says.