29 August 2022, Monday, 11:14 669

SBI opens case against Kryvonos on suspicion of looting property of Kyiv international airport during city’s defense

Editor: Roman Vaniyan

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The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has opened criminal proceedings against former Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Serhii Kryvonos on suspicion of looting the property of Kyiv International Airport named after Igor Sikorsky during the defense of the city.

That follows from a statement by editor-in-chief of Censor.net media Yurii Butusov on his Facebook page, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"Yes, indeed, on August 2, a criminal case was opened against me by the SBI. SBI investigators were instructed to recognize as illegal the order personally signed by Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi appointing me as the defense commander of the Zhuliany airport and enlisting me in military service. Therefore, a custom case was opened that I issued illegal orders during the organization of the defense of the Zhuliany airport in February – March period. The senior leadership of the Armed Forces told me frankly that Supreme Commander-in-Chief Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued an illegal order to cancel my enlistment in military service in order to prevent Valerii Zaluzhnyi from appointing me to leadership positions, because Zelenskyi considers me a political opponent," Butusov quotes Kryvonos.

According to the journalist, Kryvonos stated that before the war, he was dismissed from the army due to criticism of Zelenskyi's inaction in the field of defense and the failure of the Presidential Office and the Defense Ministry to prepare Ukraine for Russian aggression.

"On February 25, immediately after the attack, I concluded that the enemy after Hostomel could launch a landing directly into Kyiv, at Zhuliany airport, and I went there to familiarize myself with the situation. I saw that Zhuliany was lacking any - there were no leaders who would be responsible for the defense of the strategic object, and there were no means of defense. I called the commander-in-chief Zaluzhnyi from there, reported the situation, and received a verbal order to take command of the defense of the airport. By order of Zaluzhnyi, I was sent a batch of 12.7 mm and 7.62 mm machine guns, as well as anti-aircraft guns of 23 mm. But this was already at the beginning of March. I united all the units, mostly from unarmed people - border guards, conscripts from the presidential regiment, national guard volunteers, veterans of the marine corps, brothers from the Military Academy, and the cadets of the Military Institute of the Shevchenko University, and took measures on the situation, which he considered necessary to do urgently," Butusov quotes Kryvonos' words.

According to the ex-deputy secretary of the NSDC, the runway of the airport was covered with engine oil and blocked by equipment, all facilities and the perimeter were prepared for anti-aircraft defense.

"I organized the training of personnel and conducted practice shootings to meet the Russian offensive. There was complete chaos at the beginning, but we quickly organized everything. All my actions were confirmed by the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and on March 13, Zaluzhnyi confirmed my authority with a personal order. On March 13, I again enlisted for military service. But on March 29, I arrived at Valerii Fedorovych's and found out that the order to enlist me for service had been canceled. I learned from the leadership of the Armed Forces that this was done by order of Supreme Commander-in-Chief Zelenskyy. My sources told me directly: "At the top, they believe that there will be victory soon, and after the war there should be only one main character – the Supreme one, he believes that you will interfere with him," Kryvonos said.

According to him, Zelenskyy does not care that tens of thousands of untrained people are thrown to the front, who are lost without experienced commanders.

"For Zelenskyy, the problem is me, and in order to force me to stop demanding the restoration of the legal order for military service, the Supreme Commander finds time to give illegal instructions to the SBI investigators. It is a great shame that now the SBI invented an artificial case against me, I am accused of, that I was doing everything necessary to protect Ukraine, while the Supreme Commander, who failed the country's defense organization, only gave interviews from the basement. This is a great shame for the state, this is an insult. They want to show the army to which I gave all my life to, so that my fellows would begin to testify against me. I think how low the morale of our leaders is. They think that the army will betray their comrades. Apparently, this is the way it is accepted in the Kvartal [reference to Zelenskyy’s comedy company], but such shameful things will not pass in the army," Kryvonos added.

He noted that he honestly and lawfully performed his military duty to protect Kyiv, therefore the SBI case is a stain of shame not on him, but on Zelenskyy himself.

As reported by Ukrainian News Agency, in June 2021, Kryvonos was dismissed from the Armed Forces.

In December 2020, Zelenskyy dismissed Kryvonos from the post of deputy secretary of the National Security Council.