The Collegium of the SSU summed up the results the Service achieved in the current year and set out priorities for 2022. The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi attended the meeting.

‘You all know the range of tasks of the SSU for the next year. The first and foremost objective remains the same - protection of our sovereignty, territorial integrity, state interests, i.e. - our statehood; counteraction to Russian aggression, hybrid warfare and protection of critical infrastructure, counterintelligence activities. All these are very important challenges for all the staff,’ added the Head of State, outlining directions for the SSU in the year to come.

Volodymyr Zelenskyi highlighted fight against terrorism in all its forms, cybersecurity, protection of vital information resources and countering propaganda as not less significant areas in ensuring security.

The President noted that currently security is the most urgent request of citizens, since every Ukrainian wants to be confident that the state is ready to respond to the hybrid war, Russian aggression and other challenges.

The Head of State thanked the SSU staff for adopting new approaches and the qualitative changes in the SSU activities that are already taking place.

‘We have done a lot of important things to protect our security, which, in my opinion, should have been done in 2014. Overall, I think that everyone, both the public and our partners, see the difference between the work of the Security Service at present and earlier. This transformation is the logical beginning of change,’ said Volodymyr Zelenskyi, noting that the best staff must be preserved in the reform process.

In his turn, the head of the SSU Ivan Bakanov listed the key threats of 2021, which are mostly related to Russia. These include large-scale military drills near the border, elections to the Russian authorities on the occupied Ukrainian territories, Belarusian migration crisis, cyberattacks and special information operations against Ukraine.

‘The SSU, in cooperation with its domestic partners, is countering these challenges. To sum up, it was a year of systematic protection of the state’s interests. The SSU has become an effective tool in the work of the NSDC. In coordination, we effectively responded to the hybrid war and destabilization, and worked to preserve Ukraine’s economic potential,’ Ivan Bakanov stressed.

The SSU Head emphasized that the hybrid war is becoming more intense, taking new forms. The Russian services have strengthened their units working on Ukraine – technically and personnel-wise. This means that their subversive, sabotage and recruitment activities are also growing in intensity and scale.

‘The role of the SSU in preserving Ukrainian statehood is growing. State security and internal stability of Ukraine depend on modern and competent special services,’ Ivan Bakanov remarked.