Ukraine's intelligence chief rejects claims of a "war between special services"

Oleh Ivashchenko has pushed back against descriptions of a recent confrontation between Ukraine's two main security agencies as a "war between special services," saying the episode involved specific individuals and should not be generalized to entire institutions.

"There are no grounds to extrapolate an isolated incident onto state institutions and security services in particular," Ivashchenko, the head of Ukraine's Defence Intelligence, said in an interview with Ukrinform. He added that secrecy in the agencies' work remains tied to oversight, while operational freedom must stay within the framework of state interests.

Ivashchenko said Defence Intelligence and the Security Service of Ukraine have different responsibilities but work against a common enemy in the interests of national security. His comments followed reports of a confrontation between their personnel in Kyiv's Dniprovskyi district.

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There are no grounds to extrapolate an isolated incident onto state institutions and security services in particular. In our work, secrecy is closely linked to oversight, and operational freedom always operates within the framework of state interests.

The incident became linked to the disappearance of Stepan Kaplunov, the Russian Volunteer Corps' deputy commander for combat operations. The group said on 1 September that unknown individuals had abducted him from the courtyard of his residential building. The following morning, social media reports described a shootout between DIU and SSU officers. The SSU said it and DIU had instead foiled a terrorist attack against a leader of a Russian opposition political movement who had arrived in Ukraine.

Kaplunov's lawyer later said his client had been released, although his whereabouts were unknown. In a video released by the SSU on 3 September, Kaplunov acknowledged links to Russia's Federal Security Service and said someone had tried to recruit him to assassinate Ukrainian military personnel and others. His lawyer said the confession had been made under duress. Kaplunov himself alleged that SSU officers abducted him and held him in a secret prison, where he was threatened with disappearing forever. The State Bureau of Investigation has opened a pre-trial investigation into the confrontation.

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Both Defence Intelligence of Ukraine and the Security Service of Ukraine, although they have different functions, work against a common enemy in the interests of national security.