A shootout took place on Wednesday in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, between the country’s internal security service SBU and military intelligence service GUR. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the incident as an “absolute disgrace” and ordered an investigation.
According to Ukrainian media, the incident took place on Wednesday morning in central Kyiv. SBU said it was conducting an investigation into a possible assassination attempt on a Russian opposition figure.
The individual in question was Stepan Kaplunov, a Russian volunteer in Ukrainian armed forces since 2014. He is a prominent figure within the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), a paramilitary group fighting alongside Ukraine in the conflict with Russia. The RDK is operating under the direct command of GUR intelligence agency.
During the operation, shots were exchanged between security service agents and members of military intelligence, who believed that Mr Kaplunov was the target of a kidnapping attempt.
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At least three GUR military intelligence officers were injured in the incident. The two branches of the secret services are accusing each other of opening fire. A third service affiliated with office of the Ukrainian president, DBR, was deployed on the ground for deescalation.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the incident as an “absolute disgrace” and ordered a thorough investigation into the events.
According to Ukrainian media, Oleg Khramov, one of the senior officials in the SBU security services, has reportedly already been dismissed.
Later on Thursday, 3 September SBU and GUR issued contradictive statements about the incident.
SBU claims that they found evidence of Kaplunov working for the Russian FSB security service to assassinate an oppositional Russian figure due to visit Kyiv. According to them, they issued an arrest of Kaplunov and house search.
On their telegram SBU posted screenshots allegedly showing text exchange between Kaplunov and FSB operative. There is also a video confession of Kaplunov seemingly admitting the contact.
Stepan Kaplunov and his lawyer instead allege that he was kidnapped roughly a week earlier, brought into an undisclosed location and pressured into admitting the non-existent connection under the threat of death.
He was then brought to his apartment and on the way to SBU's van his comrades from GUR tried to intervene on his behalf, leading to the shootout. Stepan Kaplunov is now free from custody.
