Zelenskyy Condemns Shootout Between Ukrainian Intelligence Agencies in Kyiv
3 sources across 3 countries · Latvia · Qatar · United Kingdom · 1 of them is linked to a state
Who reported this
- Meduza
- Al Jazeera
- The Guardian
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
- A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.
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Every outlet covering this story shares the same political lean; read with that in mind.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called a shootout between the country's two primary intelligence agencies in Kyiv absolutely shameful and disgraceful. The clash occurred on Wednesday morning in the capital's Dniprovskyi district between officers of the Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). At least three HUR officers were wounded in the incident; two were reported to be in serious condition. Following the event, Zelenskyy dismissed Oleh Khramov, the head of the SBU's department for protecting state secrets and licensing, and demanded internal investigations and accountability within both agencies.
The conflict reportedly began when the SBU took Stepan Kaplunov, the deputy commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), into custody. The RVC is a unit subordinate to the HUR. The SBU stated that the operation was intended to prevent a terrorist attack plotted by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) against a Russian opposition leader. However, the commander of HUR's special unit Timur accused the SBU of kidnapping Kaplunov in broad daylight and claimed the SBU opened fire first. Kaplunov's lawyer alleged that a video released by the SBU, in which Kaplunov claims he was recruited by Moscow to assassinate Ukrainian personnel, was recorded under pressure to whitewash the shootout.
Zelenskyy emphasized that shooting is permitted only against Russian occupiers in defense of Ukraine. The incident has been investigated by the Prosecutor General's Office and the State Bureau of Investigation. While the SBU acknowledged the event should not have happened, the clash highlights tensions between the domestic-focused SBU and the foreign-intelligence focused HUR.
How each side framed it
- Centre-left
- Outlets of this lean focused on the internal instability and the specific conflict between the SBU and HUR, while framing the event as a failure of state discipline during wartime.
Sources
- Centre-left Al Jazeera: Ukrainian intel agencies in Kyiv firefight: What happened and why?
- Centre-left Meduza: ‘Shooting is permitted only against occupiers’: Zelensky calls shootout between security services in Kyiv ‘absolutely shameful’
- Centre-left The Guardian: Shootout in Kyiv between Ukrainian spy services ‘disgraceful’, says Zelenskyy
100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.