Bloody Shootout Erupts Between Ukraine’s Two Main Security Services, Zelenskyy Calls It an ‘Absolute Disgrace’

A shootout between Ukraine’s two key security services erupted in the heart of Kyiv, turning an operation tied to an alleged Russian terror plot into an armed clash between Ukrainian forces. Three officers from military intelligence were wounded, two of them seriously.

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This is an absolutely disgraceful situation.

The confrontation involved the Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, and the military intelligence agency, HUR. It led to the removal of a senior SBU official and an angry response from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who demanded a full investigation.

The episode began with an SBU operation targeting Stepan Kaplunov, deputy commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps, according to Ukrainian accounts. The corps is made up of Russian citizens fighting alongside Ukraine against Russian forces and operates under HUR command. Kaplunov had come to Kyiv for Ukraine’s Independence Day celebrations on Aug. 24. The following day, the corps said that “unknown persons kidnapped him in the courtyard of his home.”

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Here in Ukraine, weapons may be fired only at the Russian occupiers in defense of Ukraine. No other shooting will be accepted as something anyone is allowed to do.

The two sides gave sharply different accounts of what followed. The SBU said it was carrying out investigative actions concerning a planned terrorist act by Russia’s Federal Security Service. The Prosecutor General’s Office said that a unit of the defense forces launched an armed attack on SBU personnel during the operation, prompting police and security forces to use weapons to overcome resistance.

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Kidnapped in broad daylight.

The commander of HUR’s Timur special unit said Kaplunov had been “kidnapped in broad daylight” and held by the SBU without charges. His lawyer, Taras Borovskyi, said one intelligence officer suffered a severed artery in a leg wound and was in very serious condition. Another was seriously injured, while the third sustained lighter injuries. Zelenskyy said that in Ukraine, weapons could be fired only at Russian occupiers in defense of the country, adding that no other shooting would be accepted as permissible.

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One was shot in the leg, an artery was severed and he bled heavily. He is in very serious condition in a medical facility.