Estywise

court first sorted procedural questions; the decision on whether to broadcast the session remained unresolved. Duka is one of the suspects in Operation Carthage, the NABU–SAPO investigation into a criminal organization that allegedly paid high-ranking law-enforcement officials for protection. The group is accused of enabling fraudulent call centers, synthetic-drug trafficking tied to the Russian Khimprom cartel, counterfeit production, and even abductions and violence. Court and investigative materials name figures such as Andriy Osipov (“Kriminal”), Volodymyr Tsenov (“Price”), and others alongside Duka. Tsenov had already been remanded the previous day with an alternative bail of UAH 15 million. The road to this hearing had been anything but routine. On 4 November, NABU detectives arrived at Duka’s property outside Kyiv with a court warrant. What followed, according to NABU detective unit head Oleksandr Abakumov, was a tense standoff: laser-sighted weapons trained on officers, the general himself appearing at a window with a handgun, and later the arrival of armed SBU Alpha special-forces units. Abakumov described Duka smashing phones and a hard drive with a hammer. Negotiations and the arrival of lawyers ultimately led to the general’s detention; a shootout between agencies was narrowly avoided. Detectives also reported documenting the transfer of cryptocurrency wallets holding roughly US$3 million, allegedly linked to efforts to unfreeze assets connected to the Khimprom network. That same day the SBU head dismissed the officers implicated in the probe. Duka, already removed from his post, now faces the court’s assessment of flight risk, potential interference with the investigation, and the strength of the suspicion against him under the Criminal Code provisions tied to participation in a criminal organization. Inside the HACC chamber the scales of justice—literal and figurative—waited while procedural formalities played out. Outside, Kyiv continued under the familiar pressure of wartime infrastructure strikes and daily uncertainty. The Carthage case, with its mix of senior security officials, criminal intermediaries, and transnational drug networks, has become another test of whether Ukraine’s anti-corruption architecture can hold when the targets sit inside the very institutions meant to defend the state. The hearing continues. Its outcome will determine whether the former SBU general remains free under restrictions, posts substantial bail, or is held in custody while investigators pursue the wider network.