Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The President of Ukraine responded for the first time to the exposure by detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine of a criminal organization in the framework of the "Carthage" case, which included officials from the Security Service of Ukraine, the National Police, and the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
"Unfortunately, this week brought completely different news about the SBU — frankly unpleasant, frankly disgraceful, absolutely unacceptable things," he emphasized.
The head of state indicated that there have been dismissals in the Security Service of Ukraine and that new personnel decisions are being prepared. Zelensky said that it is necessary for the masterminds behind the crimes to be brought to justice. The president added that Ukraine needs partners’ assistance regarding the narcotics syndicate "Khimprom."
"There is information that this criminal (referring to Yehor Burkin, who appears on the NABU tapes as 'Mexican' — ed.) has already begun his operations in Poland. And there is also information that he is trying to bring synthetic drugs into Germany," Zelensky reported.
The president also emphasized that today he approved a draft law intended to reinstate asset declarations for all Security Service of Ukraine employees, "so that their lifestyles are available for checks and accountability." He called on parliamentarians to urgently vote for this bill.
4 November NABU and SAP, as part of the "Carthage" operation, exposed a criminal organization whose participants paid bribes to high-ranking officials of the Security Service and the National Police of Ukraine for the operation of fraudulent call centers, drug sales, and counterfeiting euros. The founder and leader of the criminal organization is Andrii Osipov with the alias "Kryminal." The case involves the founder and head of "Khimprom," Yehor Burkin, who in 2014 year received Ukrainian citizenship and changed his name and surname to Yehor Levchenko.
On the same day, searches were carried out at the homes of the first deputy head of the Department for the Protection of National Statehood at the SBU, General Serhii Duka; the first deputy head of the Main Directorate 'D' of the Department for the Protection of National Statehood, Oleksandr Kovalchuk; the head of the Main Directorate of Internal Security of the SBU, Colonel Anton Kravchuk; and the head of the National Police of Kyiv region, Andrii Rubel.
The following received suspicions: Osipov, Duka, deputy head of the department of the Criminal Investigation Directorate of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kyiv region Oleksandr Demyanchuk, first deputy head of the Department of Strategic Investigations of the National Police of Ukraine Volodymyr Tsenov, and an athlete from Zhytomyr region, Vitalii Rybalko.
During the searches, Alpha unit fighters were deployed to Duka’s house; the SBU general smashed two phones and a hard drive with a hammer. He also threatened the detectives with the use of a firearm.
The High Anti-Corruption Court remanded SBU General Serhii Duka, deputy head of the department of the Criminal Investigation Directorate of the Kyiv region police Oleksandr Demyanchuk, the athlete from Zhytomyr region Vitalii Rybalko, and the first deputy head of the Department of Strategic Investigations of the National Police Volodymyr Tsenov in custody. A bail of 15 million has already been posted for the latter. Today SBU employees received a message calling on them to join the collection of money for Duka’s bail.
Inna Vedernikova, editor of the domestic policy department at ZN.UA, in an article titled "Special Services from a Lamp: Can You Put a Genie Back in the Bottle Released by Zelensky?" previously reported that Kravchuk and Duka oversaw the forceful component against investigative journalists from Bihus.info and NABU detectives. After Vasyl Malyuk was dismissed as head of the SBU, they aligned themselves with Oleksandr Poklad. In February 2026 the president of Ukraine awarded Duka a new rank — major general (in 2023 he received the rank of brigadier general, and in March of this year the head of state also conferred that rank on Kravchuk). The Anti-Corruption Center stated that the new ranks for Duka and Kravchuk were their reward for attacks on anti-corruption agencies. They added that the president "bears full responsibility for the actions of the heads of the SBU rear service."
To be continued.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Зеленський уперше відреагував на нові плівки НАБУ у справі "Карфаген"". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ZN.ua.