The role of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) in countering hybrid threats within criminal proceedings

Abstract

The relevance of the research is determined by the growing scale of hybrid threats that combine informational, cyber, financial, and legal instruments of influence, fundamentally transforming the criminal procedure in Ukraine. Under the conditions of russia’s full-scale aggression, the activity of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) acquires a system-forming role in protecting national security, ensuring legal certainty, and maintaining the legitimacy of evidentiary procedures. The necessity to improve the legal status of the SSU and enhance its interaction with other law enforcement bodies defines both the scientific and practical importance of this analysis.

The purpose of the article is to identify the legal and organizational foundations of the Security Service of Ukraine’s activity in countering hybrid threats within the framework of the criminal process and to substantiate directions for its improvement, taking into account contemporary challenges to national security.

The research applies system-structural, comparative-legal, formal-logical, and functional methods. The systemic approach made it possible to explore the SSU’s place within the architecture of national security. At the same time, the comparative-legal analysis allowed correlating the Ukrainian model with European standards of intelligence and counterintelligence activity. The formal-logical method clarified the conceptual apparatus, and the functional approach helped to reveal the practical mechanisms of integrating the SSU into the criminal process.

It has been established that effective counteraction to hybrid threats requires complex coordination among the SSU, the Prosecutor’s Office, the judiciary, and international partners. The study revealed key enforcement issues: the fragmentation of normative regulation, the lack of procedural clarity regarding the SSU’s status, insufficient mechanisms for digital evidence verification, and the persistent conflict between state secrecy and the right to defense. It has been proven that the modern criminal process in Ukraine necessitates a transition toward a digital evidentiary architecture based on the e-evidence chain principle.

The obtained results confirm the need to develop a modern concept of the Security Service of Ukraine’s activity based on updated legal foundations, digital verification of evidence, effective parliamentary oversight, and integrated interagency training in cybersecurity and human rights. It has significant theoretical and practical importance for strengthening Ukraine’s national security.

Future research should focus on developing a regulatory model for Ukraine’s digital evidence infrastructure, harmonizing national standards of evidentiary authentication with EU practice, and elaborating theoretical foundations for democratic oversight of intelligence agencies within the criminal justice system.