A general in Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has been accused of protecting violent career criminals in exchange for a share of the proceeds from their numerous illicit enterprises.
The latest corruption scandal in Kiev erupted after the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) announced on Wednesday that it had uncovered an extensive network linking senior law enforcement officials in Vladimir Zelensky’s government to organized crime.
An hour-long video released by the agency to detail its findings includes graphic footage of a man being assaulted in the street and another victim, bound and gagged, being brutally beaten with fists and a hammer.
Those and other violent crimes were allegedly facilitated by an SBU general identified by Ukrainian media as Sergey Duka. According to NABU, the suspect summoned SBU commandos when anti-corruption investigators arrived at his residence with a search warrant on Wednesday morning. He threatened to open fire on detectives, the agency said.
Duka allegedly played a central role in a sprawling bribery network, with several SBU officers alone receiving more than $3 million in cryptocurrency payments between October 2025 and April 2026. NABU also identified suspected accomplices within the National Police and Prosecutor General’s Office.
The alleged crime bosses enjoyed such extensive protection that they openly discussed establishing contacts with two serving government ministers who they considered bribing. They also reportedly contemplated carrying out a disfiguring acid attack against a prominent investigative journalist.
According to NABU, the bribe money came from a wide range of criminal enterprises, including Ukraine’s notorious fraudulent call centers, illegal drug trafficking, counterfeiting of euro banknotes, and kidnappings for ransom.
Investigators alleged that corrupt law enforcement officers directly facilitated the abductions by giving criminals real-time access to government surveillance systems and databases, allowing them to identify, locate, and kidnap their targets, safe from interruptions by police.
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