The Security Service of Ukraine, together with the National Police, prevented a series of contract killings in Kyiv. As a result of a multi-stage special operation, law enforcement officers exposed and neutralized an operational-combat group of Russian military intelligence, which was preparing to eliminate Ukrainian military and public figures.
According to counterintelligence , all members of the enemy cell were detained while preparing an assassination attempt on the commander of one of the volunteer formations of the capital's territorial community. The attackers planned to kill him with firearms near his place of service.
The investigation established that the list of potential targets was much broader. They included commanders of units of the National Guard, the Main Intelligence Directorate, and the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The suspects planned to use improvised explosive devices to be placed under the vehicles of the Ukrainian military to carry out the attacks.
The group included several people with different functions. The main perpetrators were a man previously convicted of robbery, recruited by the Russian side, and his accomplice, who arrived from Zaporizhzhia. Also among the suspects were the director of a private security company, who provided transportation for the escape, and a law enforcement officer from the Dnipropetrovsk region, who used access to departmental databases to collect information.
The cell's activities were coordinated by an employee of a Russian special operations center affiliated with the military intelligence special operations forces. His identity has already been established by Ukrainian intelligence services. A woman from Kherson, who left for Russia after the city's de-occupation, was involved in recruiting the perpetrators.
During the searches, weapons, mobile phones, replacement SIM cards, and other evidence of involvement in activities for the benefit of Russian special services were seized from the suspects.
The detainees were charged under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, including high treason, attempted murder, and unauthorized interference with information systems. They face sentences ranging from ten years to life imprisonment with confiscation of property.
The actions of the coordinator on the part of Russia and its accomplices are also qualified as an attempt at sabotage and the organization of premeditated murders.
The operation was carried out by SBU officers in Kyiv and Kyiv region together with the Internal Security Department of the National Police under the procedural guidance of the prosecutor's office.
