In a new episode of Ye Pytannia, Olena Trybushna examines NABU’s searches of senior SBU officials suspected of protecting criminal networks, drug trafficking and fraudulent call centres, as well as the potential impact of the Democrats’ midterm election victories on US support for Ukraine and pressure on Russia.
I told you that Budanov’s phrase, “What the f*** is going on here?” could now be used to open every episode. And today, at dawn, that was exactly the question on the minds of our top SBU officials, who were hit with a series of raids by NABU investigators over their alleged protection of fraudulent call centres.
While investigating the “Carthage” case, which has already prompted Prosecutor General Kravchenko to flee the country, detectives from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau uncovered a criminal power syndicate.
According to the released recordings, current senior officials from the SBU, National Police and Prosecutor General’s Office had joined forces with the criminal underworld to form a single criminal organisation. The scale is truly staggering: the alleged activities include providing protection to a network of 52 call centres, drug trafficking by a transnational cartel, currency counterfeiting and contract kidnappings.
- How did NABU manage to expose a criminal syndicate at the top of Ukraine’s security services?
- Which senior SBU officials greeted the detectives with guns?
- Who has been providing protection to call centres, drug cartels and racketeers for years, and how?
- Could the riot in Borshchahivka have been orchestrated by the SBU to divert attention in advance?
- Will Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies withstand the war against the “mafia”?
- All this and more in a new episode of “YE PYTANNIA” with Olena Trybushna.
Olena Trybushna: I told you yesterday that Budanov’s phrase, “What is going on here?” can now be used to open every episode, not just those about the riot in Borshchahivka.
Today, at dawn, the question — what is going on? — was also on the minds of people in both the White House and the Kremlin as they watched Republicans and Trump suffer a crushing defeat in the congressional elections. And I suspect our own top SBU officials were asking themselves the same question — what is going on? — when NABU investigators arrived at their doors with search warrants early this morning.
And what do you think? The SBU, now headed by the more influential than ever Oleksandr Poklad, which completely failed to notice all the chaos and mayhem in Borshchahivka — a situation that, frankly, reeks so strongly of high treason that the Head of the Presidential Office, Budanov, came in person to investigate — is the same SBU that did nothing to stop a fake nurse who had been planning an attack on the Azov unit’s permanent deployment site for three days; the same SBU that apparently had no idea where the dozens of young men dressed in black came from whenever someone needed to pelt Azov servicemen, police officers and Budanov with eggs.
And this very same SBU, this morning — pay attention — threatened NABU detectives with firearms when they arrived to conduct searches at the homes and offices of senior SBU officials as part of corruption investigations.
Budanov did not come to investigate what was going on here.
Hello, friends! I’m Olena Trybushna, and this is the Ye Pytannia channel. Today is Wednesday, November 4.
The story of NABU’s searches at the SBU is making such big waves today that speculation is already emerging that the scandalous riots in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka two days ago, along with yesterday’s public outcry and investigation into the incident, were orchestrated by none other than the security service itself — to divert attention from the scandal in which the agency has now found itself at the centre.
So subscribe to Ye Pytannia. And, as always, I encourage you to hit the like button at some point during the video. It helps spread common sense, not just videos.
Now, let’s briefly discuss these two topics today: the case involving the most influential SBU officials and Trump’s downfall.
Both events could have historic consequences for us. They say a large cabinet makes quite a noise when it falls. Well, we have two of them here: Trump’s downfall and a complete reshuffling of power in the United States will certainly affect Putin’s plans, weapons supplies and negotiations. The question is: how exactly?
And which cabinet ultimately falls following NABU’s attempt to expose crimes within the security deep state — the SBU, the police and the Prosecutor General’s Office — and whether NABU and SAPO themselves survive this investigation could, I fear, determine the overall direction of our country’s development.
Let me start there: what happened at the SBU this morning, and why did its officials nearly open fire on NABU detectives?
This morning, detectives from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) arrived to conduct searches at the homes and offices of senior Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) officials. Journalists initially reported that the searches concerned several influential SBU figures: Serhii Duka, a general and head of the Department for the Protection of National Statehood; Colonel Anton Kravchuk, head of the SBU’s Main Directorate of Internal Security; and Oleksandr Kovalchuk, first deputy head of the Department for the Protection of National Statehood.
Overall, NABU carried out a series of large-scale raids across the country. The figure of 70 searches was reported. They were conducted as part of the same investigation into the protection of fraudulent call centres.
But there was a twist. It was not even 7 a.m. when NABU publicly announced that its detectives had arrived to conduct a search, but an SBU senior official was threatening them with a firearm and refusing to let them access the premises.
It soon emerged that the person who had threatened a National Anti-Corruption Bureau detective with a gun was one of the most notorious figures within the Security Service of Ukraine — Major General Serhii Duka. SBU special forces also arrived at the general’s estate.
NABU reported that its detectives were being obstructed. Shortly afterwards, the bureau revealed why it had launched searches targeting representatives of the most influential behind-the-scenes wing of the Security Service of Ukraine. The searches were part of the high-profile “Carthage” case, which prompted the Prosecutor General himself to flee to Vienna.
Judging by NABU’s brief morning statement, while investigating how the Prosecutor General’s Office provided protection to call centres as part of the “Carthage” case, NABU detectives had also uncovered links to other law enforcement and security officials. Serving senior officials from the SBU, National Police and Prosecutor General’s Office had joined forces with representatives of the criminal underworld — the very people they were supposed to fight — to provide protection to fraudulent call centres and other illegal businesses. That was the gist of NABU’s official morning statement.
A short video released by the team behind Operation “Midas” and the “Carthage” investigation hinted that the probe would expose the deepest layers of the corrupt deep state.
“The world you know is not always what it seems. What you see is only part of reality. You can return to the familiar world, where everything stays in its place: the same rules, the same system. Or you can catch a glimpse of another side of reality, of what is hidden from prying eyes, and discover just how deep the rabbit hole goes.”
Olena Trybushna: The key figures targeted in today’s searches by NABU and SAPO are even less public than the current head of the security service, whose photographs, as the joke goes, number just two: one unflattering and the other with Zelenskyy.
These three are, once again, General Serhii Duka, head of the Department for the Protection of National Statehood; Colonel Anton Kravchuk, head of the SBU’s Main Directorate of Internal Security; and Oleksandr Kovalchuk, first deputy head of the Department for the Protection of National Statehood.
The fourth person whose name was reported by the media early this morning is crime boss Andrii Osipov. There are even fewer photographs of him online than of Poklad, but he is a figure in an extremely sensitive high-profile investigation.
In the summer, NABU and SAPO detained this man and placed him in pretrial detention. Anti-corruption authorities suspect Andrii Osipov of extorting $1 million from a Russian citizen in exchange for resolving issues related to criminal prosecution and extradition to Russia. Of that million dollars, $200,000 was allegedly intended for Vasyl Maliuk, who was then head of the Security Service of Ukraine.
The outlet Slidstvo.Info covered the case over the summer and quoted controversial evidence from the case file that anti-corruption prosecutors had read out in court.
According to materials released by the anti-corruption authorities, investigators suspect Osipov of extorting a $1 million bribe from Russian citizen and drug lord Oleksandr Kuznetsov. In exchange for the money, the Russian was allegedly promised protection from extradition to Russia.
According to the investigation, Osipov negotiated the amount of the bribe with his longtime acquaintance Vasyl Maliuk, who at the time was already the SBU’s first deputy head. These events took place in 2022.
Osipov allegedly managed to bring the price down to $1 million thanks to his connections within the SBU. In conversations cited by anti-corruption authorities in court, Kuznetsov was assured that $200,000 of the bribe was allegedly intended personally for Maliuk, although investigators never established that any money had actually been transferred to SBU employees.
A SAPO prosecutor argued that the case materials showed that Osipov, a figure from the criminal underworld, personally knew Maliuk. For example, in conversations, Osipov described himself as part of Maliuk’s team and used the phrase: “I’m with V.V.” The initials V.V. stand for Vasyl Vasylovych Maliuk.
According to the investigation, in the recordings, Osipov discussed Maliuk’s wife, Yuliia, and recalled their shared past, referring to him as a hooligan from Korostyshiv who had risen to a high position.
A prosecutor identified one of the conversations recorded by Osipov as a dialogue with Maliuk himself. In the recordings, Osipov’s interlocutor complained about being extremely busy following his appointment, citing constant National Security and Defence Council meetings, conference calls with the president and so on. The conversation took place on July 20, 2022, two days after Maliuk was appointed acting head of the SBU.
Osipov was born in the Korostyshiv district of Zhytomyr Oblast and has faced criminal charges multiple times, including for violent crimes. On Getcontact, his number is saved under the name “Andriukha Criminal.”
This is how the outlet Slidstvo.Info, known for its investigative journalism, including investigations into officials of the Security Service of Ukraine, described the man. The report was published this summer, in July.
During searches at Osipov’s property, investigators found a combat pistol, a carbine, 700 rounds of ammunition and brass knuckles. His car had licence plates that were not registered to any vehicle. In addition to these false licence plates, Osipov was found to have SBU ID cards and other documents, media outlets reported.
It remains unclear where the story involving Osipov’s conversations with Maliuk, which were played in court, led and how it ended. Media outlets report today that investigators have no evidence that money was handed over to Maliuk. However, they suggest that it was by extracting data from the phone of “Andriukha Criminal” that anti-corruption agencies obtained evidence of the involvement of influential law enforcement officials in illegal schemes. They also suggest that this may be why NABU and SAPO carried out searches at the homes and offices of influential SBU officials today.
According to sources at Ukrainska Pravda in law enforcement agencies, after the arrest of Andrii Osipov, a crime boss with close ties to senior SBU officials, the main question on everyone’s mind in law enforcement was whether NABU and SAPO had managed to unlock his phone. Judging by today’s events, it appears they did. Ukrainska Pravda journalist Mykhailo Tkach wrote this early today.
Osipov is still being held at NABU’s temporary detention facility.
Sources at Dzerkalo Tyzhnia also confirmed today that law enforcement officials had traced the links to senior SBU officials after examining Andrii Osipov’s phone.
After Vasyl Maliuk was dismissed as head of the SBU, Osipov came under the protection of Duka and Kravchuk, who quickly aligned themselves with General Oleksandr Poklad. Today, NABU came to conduct searches at Duka’s and Kravchuk’s premises. According to NABU, Duka threatened the detectives with a firearm.
So who are these representatives of the SBU’s internal security apparatus, and what charges is NABU bringing against them? More on that shortly.
The Osipov case could lead NABU to a criminal clan-based system within the law enforcement sector. This was the assessment published in August this year by Inna Vedernikova, editor of the domestic politics section at Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, in her widely discussed article on the degeneration of the government.
The Osipov case could prove to be one of the entry points into a much more serious story, one that goes far beyond individual names and agencies. Years of degradation in public administration have created an environment in which state powers, the resources of law enforcement agencies, money, and private and political interests have become increasingly difficult to separate.
“There is a strong likelihood that a criminal clan-based system has taken shape within the state, with a significant part of the law enforcement sector serving not the institutions themselves, but the preservation of the existing power structure. The system protects those in power, while those in power ensure the system’s stability, income and impunity,” Dzerkalo Tyzhnia wrote in August, previewing major investigations by anti-corruption agencies expected this autumn.
And now NABU has moved against this very structure — the one that, until recently, was using law enforcement officials and politicians to put pressure on NABU itself.
Sources within the SBU who are not involved in these processes but have been observing them for many years — and there are still people like that in the agency — are quietly whispering to us that NABU has seized the end of a terrifying thread. And perhaps, for the first time, NABU and SAPO detectives and their leadership are walking a razor’s edge in more than just a figurative sense.
Our sources say there is a real physical threat to those who are now trying to unravel this web. This is what Dzerkalo Tyzhnia wrote.
In the afternoon, NABU released an hour-long video, following its usual format of presenting details of the case alongside excerpts from recorded conversations. Here is a short excerpt that, in principle, makes it clear how everything worked and who was involved in what.
Oleksandr Abakumov: NABU and SAPO have exposed a criminal organisation specialising in fraud through so-called call centres and drug trafficking, as well as an organised group involved in other crimes in the economic sphere and crimes against people’s lives and health.
Its members included:
Criminal — the founder and leader of the criminal organisation, a man with both a criminal past and present, convicted three times and one of its key members.
Mexican — the founder and leader of the transnational Khimprom drug cartel, a Russian citizen who fled to Ukraine after being placed on a wanted list in 2016. He has also been wanted in Ukraine since 2019, but this did not prevent him from continuing his criminal activities.
Criminal’s subordinates — Boxer and Pasha, who carried out the dirty work.
Price — a police officer and one of the heads of the National Police’s Department of Strategic Investigations, responsible for providing protection to the call centres.
Consultant — another police officer, responsible for security, providing cover for criminal activities and coordinating certain areas of the organisation’s operations.
Akim — a senior SBU official, a major general who ensured the organisation was shielded from scrutiny by his colleagues at the SBU.
But let’s go back to the beginning, to the moment when the criminal organisation was formed.
NABU and SAPO established that after Russia launched its full-scale invasion, the Russian Khimprom drug syndicate not only continued operating but also expanded its influence in Ukraine and abroad. To build up this criminal business in Ukraine, its leader, known as Mexican, needed to secure the support of law enforcement officials who would turn a blind eye to his activities.
To this end, he recruited a man known as Criminal.
Criminal, a co-organiser of the criminal organisation, came onto NABU and SAPO’s radar in 2022, when he demanded $1 million on behalf of the SBU in exchange for ensuring that an individual would not be extradited.
By that time, Criminal already had a criminal record: he had been sentenced to 4.5 and 6 years in prison for robbery, unlawful possession of a motor vehicle and hooliganism. Nevertheless, this did not prevent him from maintaining close ties with law enforcement officials who, like him, were born, raised and began their careers in Zhytomyr Oblast.
Criminal (phone conversation):
— He’s clearly going to be number one now, f***.
— Well, yeah. If he wants to go somewhere, f***, it’s no problem for him.
— But we’ll find a way to make it work, bro. We’ll try to get all this sorted out somehow.
— Well, f*, bro, at least now he’s running the Service, f*. He’s genuinely competent. Not like those f**ing idiots.
— Let’s hope everything works out, honestly. Things might finally get a bit better.
— Give my best regards to the general’s wife, you hear me, bro? Could she ever have imagined, bro, that this hooligan from Korostyshiv would reach such a high position? One hundred percent.
Olena Trybushna: NABU and SAPO have released recordings of conversations between members of a criminal organisation that operated under the protection of law enforcement agencies.
The group consisted of at least 12 people, including serving senior officials from the SBU, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the National Police.
With law enforcement protection, fraudulent call centres operated, drugs were sold, counterfeit cigarettes were illegally manufactured, and foreign currency was forged. The group also organised assaults, kidnappings and beatings.
The recordings also mention a minister, identified in the video as “K”, who allegedly provided protection for drug trafficking, personally took part in organising it and had a stake in the business.
In one of the recorded excerpts, the suspects discuss a plan to deal with Denys Bihus, a journalist and head of the investigative journalism project Bihus.Info.
Let me read this out to you. Brace yourselves:
Mexican: “When it comes to Bihus, I don’t understand why everyone is so scared. He’s under the Americans and all that. I think everyone assumes that if you beat the shit out of him, half the world will come to his defence. Maybe they’re grant-eaters, but that’s what everyone seems to think. Let me f*cking take him out, because if this rat doesn’t make a video about us today, he’ll make one in six months. We could just throw acid on him — then he’ll be f*cking disfigured. Let him go and make videos for his kids with his scary-looking face. Talk to them about taking him out. I’d be more than happy to.”
Let me remind you that it was the SBU’s internal security division that organised the special operation in which SBU officers secretly monitored the Bihus.Info editorial team at a sauna.
NABU is not naming names, but the names of SBU officials have been circulating since early this morning. Both General Serhii Duka and Colonel Anton Kravchuk, whose premises were searched, are being named as the people who led the forceful part of the operation against NABU and SAPO in July last year.
As a reminder, the main justification for the attack at the time was the alleged Russian influence within NABU.
Duka was involved in the arrest of NABU detective Ruslan Mahamedrasulov over allegations that his father had been selling cannabis to Dagestan, Uzbekistan.
According to the Anti-Corruption Action Centre, Duka’s parents-in-law hold Russian passports, have accounts in Russian banks and travelled to Russia even after the full-scale invasion began. The family owns a farming business registered in Russian state records.
In 2024, Duka’s wife received an Audi Q8 worth at least $60,000 and an apartment in Odesa worth at least $100,000 as gifts from her mother, Duka’s mother-in-law.
In February this year, after the Anti-Corruption Action Centre had published its investigation into these matters, the president promoted Duka to the rank of major general. In March, the president awarded Anton Kravchuk the rank of brigadier general. The Anti-Corruption Action Centre believes that, in effect, both men were rewarded for their attacks on NABU and SAPO.
Against the backdrop of today’s NABU searches, the public outcry and the understanding of the potential consequences of this case, speculation is emerging that the intelligence services deliberately orchestrated the scandal surrounding attacks on the Azov unit’s permanent deployment site in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka and the mass riots there two days ago. The alleged aim was to divert public attention from today’s searches and the charges that are expected to be brought against senior SBU officials.
So far, there is no evidence to support this theory beyond the fact that a distorted version of events in Borshchahivka was amplified, primarily through an SBU-linked Telegram network, and that the SBU did nothing to prevent the incident or stop the situation from escalating.
Anonymous Telegram channels are already spreading posts today claiming that the searches are nothing more than revenge by NABU and SAPO against SBU officials for having exposed the heads of NABU and SAPO. Prosecutor General Kravchenko, who has fled to Vienna, also came out swinging in defence of the SBU officials, invoking the same narrative. He wrote on Telegram that this was nothing but political revenge and an attempt to destabilise the country.
Unfortunately, even now, as searches are being conducted at the SBU’s internal security division and allegations of this kind are being made, conspiracy theories continue to circulate on social media claiming that NABU and SAPO are working against the state at a difficult time for the country.
If you come across such posts, remember: the people undermining the state are those who cannot stop stealing, not those who cannot stop investigating theft.
In short, let’s leave this one open for now. I’m waiting for Budanov to take action. I’m sure he will get to the bottom of what is going on inside the SBU.
Finally, I cannot wrap up today without saying a few words about international affairs — or, more precisely, America. Because, in an attempt to drown out the news of the searches targeting senior SBU officials, US President Donald Trump suffered a crushing defeat overnight, losing pretty much everything, you might say. That’s sarcasm. And this will have far-reaching consequences not only for him and America, but also for us. And that is no joke.
The vote count is still underway in the United States, but it has been clear since the early hours of the morning that the Democrats have beaten everyone hands down — and then some. Sorry, let me put that another way: the Democratic Party of the United States has won majorities in both chambers of the US Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives, gaining control of Congress for the remaining two years of Donald Trump’s presidential term.
According to preliminary results, Democrats are expected to win at least 245 seats in the House of Representatives, while Republicans are projected to secure 166. A party needs 218 seats to control the chamber.
Democrats are also set to take control of the upper chamber of Congress. In the Senate, they already have a solid majority, with 54 of the 100 seats. A majority requires 51 seats.
Democrats won in states that had firmly and decisively backed Donald Trump in the presidential election just two years ago. In Texas, a Democrat won a Senate election for the first time in 38 years.
Democrats are calling this a great American comeback.
American media have described these results as a decisive rebuke of Donald Trump by voters. CNN reported this assessment. The New York Times wrote that Democrats had crushed the Republicans and that angry voters were signalling the beginning of the end of the Trump era. The Wall Street Journal called the election a stunning rebuke of Donald Trump, while The Washington Post said voters had punished Trump with a historic swing in favour of Democrats.
Donald Trump has already acknowledged the election results. He admitted that Democrats had done a good job, as he put it, said he accepted the outcome and was ready to work with them. However, Trump has already vowed to become “Mr. Veto” and block legislation passed by Democrats.
For their part, Democrats are preparing extensive hearings and investigations into the Trump administration, including Pete Hegseth, Elon Musk and the diesel deal with Russia.
The new Congress will not be sworn in until January 3 next year, 2027. As they say, we still have to make it there. And Trump is an unpredictable man. But given our difficult situation, we can already say that Trump’s crushing defeat in the elections means the collapse of Putin’s hopes that Trump’s America would help the Kremlin finish us off.
Putin built his strategy partly on the expectation that, under Trump’s leadership, the United States would help pressure Ukraine into surrender or a settlement on Russia’s terms by cutting off our supplies of money, weapons and intelligence. And, by and large, Donald Trump has so far done a great deal to live up to Russia’s expectations.
Putin’s plans have now fallen apart. In the coming days, we will see how Russia responds. Will the talks in Abu Dhabi, for example, now be cancelled? Or might the Russians take a different approach at the negotiations if it turns out that reports about the health of the Russian economy have been greatly exaggerated?
But whatever happens in the United States, one thing is clear after today’s news from America: Russia is losing one of the tools it had hoped to use, counted on and tried to leverage to put pressure on us during this winter season.
In turn, a Congress with a Democratic majority will soon have effective tools to oversee and block decisions by the Donald Trump administration that could sometimes have catastrophic consequences for us. At the same time, Democrats will gain leverage to push through legislation that could help increase US aid and support for Ukraine. Trump’s attempts to veto such Democratic initiatives are likely to meet with a backlash in the media and public opinion, as well as political resistance.
The Democrats’ plans to investigate abuses of power and possible behind-the-scenes dealings by the current administration also point to interesting prospects — regarding diesel fuel, sanctions, the suspension of intelligence sharing and Starlink, just to name a few.
All of this preliminarily means that we have a chance of receiving increased US assistance and, possibly, seeing greater pressure on Russia from Washington. This is extremely important both right now and given that next year we may begin to lose support in Europe.
So let me sum up today’s episode this way: preliminary indications are that, overnight, our chances of surviving this war as a country have improved thanks to external factors. And I hope that NABU’s large-scale special operation will ultimately make us stronger from within, and that the searches and revelations we are about to see will mark the beginning of a clean-up of that part of the Security Service of Ukraine which, instead of focusing on security and defence, was engaged in providing protection to criminal businesses, extorting money and carrying out political persecution in collusion with the fugitive Prosecutor General, the criminal underworld and God knows who else, all working together and sharing in the proceeds.
But I believe Budanov will get to the bottom of what the hell is going on here.
So hang in there, support the anti-corruption agencies, demand change and take care of yourselves. Finally, subscribe to Ye Pytannia — half of you are watching without subscribing, and that’s shameful. Thank you all for watching, whether you subscribe or not. Take care. See you tomorrow.
Tags: Criminal Networks nabu Operation Carthage SAPO SBU Ukraine Corruption Ukrainian Law Enforcement
