The Minister of Sport of Ukraine announced on Wednesday the resignation of Ivan Kurlishchuk, the head of the national anti-doping agency, and his deputy. This came a day after the publication of a report by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on possible violations of anti-doping rules committed by the Ukrainian agency.


A statement from the Ministry of Sport acknowledged that international standards of doping tests had been violated and assured that Ukraine was committed to the fight against doping.


The WADA report summarizes the results of the investigation, dubbed "Operation Hercules". It alleges that the Ukrainian anti-doping agency, in particular, warned athletes in advance about doping tests, with this allegedly continuing since 2012. Also, the Ukrainian agency allegedly falsified sample documents - six samples were labeled as "out-of-competition" when in reality they were "in-competition".


The report does not address any facts of concealed doping by Ukrainian athletes, such as those found in Russia, which prevented Russian athletes from competing under the national flag.


However, the violations will be reviewed by the WADA Compliance Committee, which could decide to sanction the Ukrainian agency, potentially affecting the athletes as well.