Ukraine Prez Zelensky strips two Ukrainian generals of their ranks for being 'traitors'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he has stripped two generals of their military rank.

Zelensky said "something prevented them from determining where their homeland was" and they "violated their military oath of allegiance to the Ukrainian people".

According to Zelensky, one of the generals had headed internal security at the SBU, the main intelligence agency.

He said the other general had been the SBU head in the Kherson region, the first major city to fall to the Russians. Zelenskyy didn't say anything about the fates of the two generals other than them being stripped of their rank.

"Today another decision was made on anti-heroes - now I don't have time to deal with all traitors, but gradually all of them will be punished. That is why Andriy Olehovych Naumov, former head of the main department of internal security at the Security Service of Ukraine, and Serhiy Oleksandrovych Kryvoruchko, former head of the SBU directorate in the Kherson region, are no longer generals," Zelensky said.

Zelensky did not elaborate on what had led to the two officials being dismissed, though he noted that under the Ukrainian army’s disciplinary statute officers who “have not decided where their homeland is, who violate the military oath of allegiance to the Ukrainian people as regards the protection of our state, its freedom and independence” would “inevitably be deprived of senior military ranks.”

During his speech, Zelensky shared that he had spoken with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has sought to act as a mediator between Ukraine and Russia. Zelensky indicated that Turkey had offered to act as a guarantor for Ukraine’s security in the ongoing negotiations.

Published on: Friday, April 01, 2022, 12:30 PM IST