This article was updated at 3:25 p.m. EST.
Two senior cybersecurity officials in Ukraine were fired Monday as part of an investigation into suspected misappropriation of state funds, according to a senior government official.
Yurii Shchyhol, the head of Ukraine’s State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection (SSSCIP), said in a statement that he submitted his resignation from his post this morning.
“I am confident that I can prove my innocence through an impartial investigation and directly in court,” Shchyhol said.
In a comment to Recorded Future News, he declined to reveal further details, saying he would reveal more “in court and after defeating the enemy.”
His deputy, Viktor Zhora, who was also reportedly fired, said in a statement on Facebook that he resigned “in the interests of the SSSCIP, which must continue to perform more than a hundred functions established by law.”
He also expressed regret that he did not have time to launch a national bug bounty program or formalize the legal status of a dedicated Ukrainian cyber force.
“I plan to decide in the near future how I can best be useful to the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” Zhora added.
In a recent interview with Dina Temple-Raston of Recorded Future News, Zhora made no allusion to problems at the agency and discussed his plans for future projects at SSSCIP.
READ MORE: Zhora recently spoke to the Click Here podcast about long-term plans, such as preparing for attacks on Ukraine’s power grid this winter.
SSSCIP is one of several Ukrainian security agencies. It is responsible for the cyber protection of government information resources and critical infrastructure.
Shchyhol has led SSSCIP since 2020. His first deputy, Dmytro Makovskyi, has been named interim head of the agency, according to an official statement.
Embezzlement investigation
The firings coincided with an announcement by Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities that they were investigating a software procurement scheme allegedly involving Shchyhol and Zhora, as well as four other suspects who were not named.
According to a statement from Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), the suspects managed to embezzle $1.72 million between 2020 and 2022 by classifying the procurement of software for the SSSCIP.
The stolen funds were allegedly transferred to accounts of controlled companies abroad “in order to make them legal and distribute them among the members of the group,” according to NABU.
Shchyhol said that “all purchases of the SSSCIP from 2020 were carried out in accordance with current legislation.” The software in question was intended to protect Ukraine from cyber threats, he added.
According to SSSCIP’s statement, the agency has provided law enforcement with the information necessary for the investigation, adding that it “works according to the principles of openness and has zero tolerance for corruption.”
“We urge you not to make allegations against specific officials or employees currently engaged in protecting Ukraine’s critical information infrastructure until the investigation is completed and the investigation results have been subjected to a legal assessment by the court.”
These are the latest dismissals of senior state officials in Ukraine in the past year as the country steps up its anti-corruption efforts – a crucial step towards joining Western alliances such as the European Union.
In September, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov was ousted amid several corruption scandals within the ministry involving the procurement of goods and equipment for the military at inflated prices.
In November, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fired the deputy head of Ukraine’s foreign intelligence service.
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Daryna Antoniuk is a freelance reporter for Recorded Future News based in Ukraine. She writes about cybersecurity startups, cyberattacks in Eastern Europe, and the state of the cyberwar between Ukraine and Russia. She previously worked as a tech reporter for Forbes Ukraine. Her work has also appeared in Sifted, The Kyiv Independent and The Kyiv Post.