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🇸🇪 Sweden /Conflict & Security

Internal firefight between agents in Kyiv leaves Zelenskyy demanding answers

From Dagens Nyheter · () Swedish

Translated from Swedish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Agents from Ukraine’s domestic security service, the SBU, and military intelligence agency, HUR, exchanged fire in central Kyiv, injuring three HUR personnel, two seriously.
  • The agencies gave conflicting accounts, with the SBU saying it helped stop a terrorist plot and HUR alleging that the SBU had kidnapped a Russian opposition figure fighting for Ukraine.
  • President Volodymyr Zelenskyy demanded explanations, dismissed an SBU official and said Ukrainian agents may only shoot Russian occupiers.

Agents from Ukraine’s two intelligence services opened fire on one another in a Kyiv neighborhood, turning an internal dispute into a bloody confrontation in the capital. Three members of the military intelligence service were injured, two of them seriously.

The shooting broke out on Wednesday morning in an eastern part of central Kyiv. Afterward, the SBU and HUR offered sharply different accounts of what had happened.

In Ukraine, the only people it is permitted to shoot are Russian occupiers.

· Volodymyr ZelenskyyThe president condemned the intelligence services’ internal firefight and demanded accountability.

The SBU said its agents, working with HUR, had thwarted a terrorist attack against a member of the Russian opposition. Ukrainian media sources identified the intended target as Stepan Kaplunov, a commander in the Russian Volunteer Corps, a unit fighting on Ukraine’s side in the war. The SBU said its agents came under attack while carrying out an operation linked to that investigation.

HUR gave the opposite version. Its special-unit commander, known as Timur, said Kaplunov had been kidnapped by the SBU after arriving in Kyiv on Sept. 1 for Independence Day celebrations. During informal negotiations between the services, HUR alleged, SBU agents began detaining their military counterparts, leading to the gunfire.

No one has the right to open fire on our streets, or to carry out criminal orders.

· Kyrylo BudanovThe presidential chief of staff denounced the confrontation in Kyiv.

The incident angered Ukraine’s political leadership. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and presidential chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov condemned the internal conflict, which the article says was likely welcomed by the Kremlin. Budanov said, “No one has the right to open fire on our streets, or to carry out criminal orders.” Zelenskyy dismissed the head of the SBU department responsible for protecting state secrets and demanded that both agencies publicly explain what caused the dispute and how it escalated into shooting.

“In Ukraine, the only people it is permitted to shoot are Russian occupiers. Nothing else will ever be allowed,” Zelenskyy said.

Nothing else will ever be allowed.

· Volodymyr ZelenskyyZelenskyy reinforced his warning against armed conflict between Ukrainian agencies.
About this summary

Originally published by Dagens Nyheter in Swedish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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