I was just triangulating this click bait, APsplainin Ukraine's Zelenskyy fires top security chief and prosecutor. I dunno why I expected tactical maneuver to outwit Canada's TURBINE CRIME.

nope.

What I got is, a 150-word "nightly video address to the nation" caption on an 800-word depiction of heartless Russian atrocities and lamentions over little Liza's body a-laying in "a coffin with flowers".

sooooo I figuratively rolled over to Ukriform 'cause Ukriform is an incredibly loyal, rightous, upside voice of the partisans embellishing victory. BAM!

Zelensky explains move to sack top prosecutor, security chief is quite a shocking tally of Ukrainian-speaking PUTIN spies, MASKED by AP investigative war crime reporting.

"I decided to remove the Prosecutor General from her post and remove the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (from his duties - ed.). As of today, 651 criminal proceedings have been registered regarding high TREASON and collaborative activities of employees of prosecutor's offices, pretrial inquiry bodies, and other law enforcement agencies. In 198 criminal proceedings, charges were pressed against the relevant individuals," the president said in a video address.

From this angle, I gather, only 60 servants of the people evaded apprehension by, ahem, self-deportation across the border of the border land to illegitimate, "break-away" territories.

"Such an array of crimes against the foundations of the country's national security and the connections that have been EXPOSED between the employees of the security agencies of Ukraine and Russia's special services rise very serious questions to the relevant leaders. Each of these questions will see a proper answer," the president concluded.

PLUS Awkward-turn-of-phrase Award w/o 17 July (until further notice)
Zelensky removes head of SBU Bakanov, top prosecuror Veneditkova

That's according to the relevant decrees published on the website of the President's Office.

which is not machine translatable and kinda ominous besides smelling, um, despotic

The top security operative was removed in accordance with "Article 47 of the Disciplinary Statute of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," which says "failure to perform (improper performance of) service duties, which led to human casualties or other grave consequences, or created a threat of such consequences, shall be among grounds to remove a serviceman from duties."

Oddly, no words for Veneditkova's fate.

Ukraine's Zelenskyy fires top spy chief and prosecutor general | Politico |

After Zelenskyy won a landslide presidential vote in 2019, he set out to clean up the SBU and tapped Bakanov to lead the charge in an attempt to showcase the newly elected leader's determination to prove to the West that Kyiv was serious about reforms.

But Bakanov's appointment was criticized by opposition parties who said someone with his background was unfit to lead the top intelligence-gathering agency. He had been at Zelenskyy's side since the latter rose from a scrawny comedian in the industrial, south-central city of Kryvyi Rih to a muscular, war-hardened leader famous well beyond Ukraine's borders.

• Zelensky A Leader Failed to Rise From the Ashes
• Ukraine MP Election: Removing Oligarchs ... Some

'Sapere aude'

Corruption is rampant in a divided Ukraine ...

Opinion: Zelenskyy is the problem, not his friends | DW News |

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has fired leading security officials in the middle of a war. But the president's public rebuke only obscures the real problem: lack of reform, says Eugen Theise.

The firing of SBU intelligence services boss Ivan Bakanov and Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova is akin to a political earthquake in Ukraine. During a war, one would expect maximum solidarity from a government. Such dismissals register as a very public rejection of one's closest confidants.

... Then the situation suddenly snowballed: On Tuesday, parliament dismissed both Bakanov and Venediktova at Zelenskyy's behest. There was no longer any talk of the investigations announced the day before.

This strange personnel gamble gives the impression that the former comedian and actor -- who, after the Russian invasion of his country, was transformed into the courageous leader of a brave nation before the eyes of the world -- has suddenly dwarfed himself. At a time, moreover, when he should have stepped up and taken responsibility for the mistakes of his confidants.

A general's treason

Known cases of treason and desertion in the ranks of intelligences services occurred within the first weeks of the war. But the president needed months to find an effective way to publicly address the situation. Perhaps the most sensational example is the case of General Andriy Naumov of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), who fled Ukraine on February 23, one day before the Russian invasion.

Naumov was Bakanov's right hand at the SBU. In just a few short months, Naumov's patron had promoted him to intelligence services general. As director of Ukraine's domestic security headquarters, it would have been his task to sniff out corruption or moles. Naumov's flight was reason enough to immediately fire Bakanov.

Zelenskyy replaces long-time loyalists with Yermak's people

Meanwhile, Oleksii Symonenko - Venediktova's deputy - will run the Office of the Prosecutor-General (OPG) in the interim. Similarly, Bakanov's deputy, Vasyl Malyuk, is now acting head of the SBU. Both Symonenko and Malyuk are thought to have ties to Zelenskyy's chief-of-staff Andriy Yermak, and Malyuk in particular has been accused of being rather close to a scandal-plagued deputy of Yermak's, Oleh Tatarov.

'Sapere aude'

New on MoA:
Another Crazy Plot By Ukraine's Secret Service Just Blew Up - Flimsy Excuses Follow
[_link] pic.twitter.com/enpxPi4aPV

— Moon of Alabama (@MoonofA) July 25, 2022

'Sapere aude'