Ukraine intelligence scandal deepens as SBU and GUR accounts diverge

The dispute between Ukraine's security services has intensified after an armed confrontation in Kyiv, with sharply different accounts surrounding Stepan Kaplunov, deputy commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps.

Three members of Ukraine's military intelligence agency, the GUR, were wounded in the confrontation, and several people were temporarily detained. The Russian Volunteer Corps operates under GUR coordination, placing Kaplunov at the center of a dispute between the GUR and the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU.

Kaplunov denied on Thursday that he had contacts with Russia's Federal Security Service, the FSB, or that he took part in planning assassinations. In a social media post, he said he acknowledged the contacts only after nine days in detention, under psychological pressure and threats.

“

They said someone could disappear forever. They talked about ‘digging a hole.’ We all understand what that means.

Earlier that day, the SBU said it had identified a “targeted person” who maintained contacts with Russian intelligence during an investigation into an alleged FSB-organized assassination plot planned around Ukraine's Independence Day. The agency initially did not name Kaplunov, but its description was later linked to him. The SBU said the suspect had been tasked with preparing the assassination of a Russian opposition representative visiting Ukraine, as well as killing Ukrainian servicemen in exchange for money. It said he admitted contact with the FSB, provided information that helped investigators identify others involved, and had conversations with an FSB representative on his phone.

Kaplunov gave a radically different account in an interview with Radio NV. He said people claiming to be police officers detained him near his home on Aug. 23, handcuffed him, covered his eyes with adhesive tape and took him to what he called a “secret prison.” He said interrogators threatened him during the first two days. “They said someone could disappear forever. They talked about ‘digging a hole.’ We all understand what that means,” he said. Kaplunov said he then accepted investigators' version that he had contacted the FSB.

“

I accepted the investigators' version.