Ukraine to charge Kharkiv’s former security chief with treason

• The former official faces life in prison, according to the State Bureau of Investigation on Telegram.
• He is accused of leaving his post without permission while martial law was in effect.
• Dudin held the post from 2020 until May 2022, when he was sacked by President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine announced Monday that the former head of the SBU security service in northeastern Kharkiv will stand trial for high treason for allegedly sabotaging the region’s defence against Russia.

The former official faces life in prison, according to the State Bureau of Investigation on Telegram.

The law enforcement agency alleged that Roman Dudin, 40, “instead of organising work to counter the enemy… actually engaged in sabotage”.

From the start of the Russian invasion in February last year until September, the majority of Kharkiv’s northeastern region, which borders Russia, was occupied by Moscow troops.

Dudin believed the “offensive would be successful” and hoped new Russian authorities would treat him favourably due to his “subversive activities”, the State Bureau of Investigation said.

He is accused of leaving his post without permission while martial law was in effect, as well as illegally ordering his employees to leave work and leave the region.

Furthermore, he is accused of “deliberately creating conditions” that allowed Russian troops to seize weapons and protective equipment from the headquarters of the security service.

The case is scheduled for trial.

Dudin held the post from 2020 until May 2022, when he was sacked by President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said he “did not work to defend the city in the first days of the invasion and only thought of himself”.

In July, Zelensky fired SBU chief Ivan Bakanov, claiming that over 650 cases of security officials suspected of treason and aiding and abetting Russia were being investigated.

An SBU official is suspected of sharing top secret maps of minefields with Russian troops in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, which was also occupied by the Russian army at the start of the war.

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