Former Ukrainian Security Service general who fled to Russia dies fighting against Ukraine – Russian media outlet

Major General Volodymyr Liapkin, a former head of department in the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) who fled to Russia after the Revolution of Dignity and served in the Bars-33 unit, was reportedly killed in action in Ukraine on 17 March.

Source: Mediazona, an independent Russian media outlet

Details: Liapkin's death was initially reported by former Ukrainian MP Oleh Tsarov and later independently confirmed by Mediazona.

A former emergency services officer from Moscow Oblast, Colonel Eduard Malov, was reportedly killed alongside him. Both servicemen were killed on 17 March 2026.

Liapkin served as head of the SSU's operational documentation department during the time of former pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. According to Tsarov, his area of responsibility included "the invisible side of the SSU's work – wiretapping, external surveillance and information gathering". Liapkin was made a major general in 2013. That same year, he personally took part in dispersing protests on the Maidan, Tsarov said.

In February 2014, immediately after the Maidan protesters' victory, Liapkin was dismissed from the SSU along with other senior officers. He fled to Russia and settled in occupied Crimea.

Following the start of the war and the occupation of Kherson, Liapkin was appointed deputy head of the so-called "State Security Service of Kherson Oblast". The founder of the "State Security Service" was Liapkin's former superior at the SSU – Oleksandr Yakymenko, head of the Ukrainian security service from January 2013 to February 2014, who also fled to Russia.

In 2025, the SSU served Volodymyr Liapkin with a notice of suspicion for collaboration with the Russians. According to the investigation, as deputy head and acting head of the "State Security Service", he was involved in "filtration measures" and repressions against the civilian population. The SSU believes that following the formal liquidation of the "State Security Service", its successor was the FSB directorate for occupied Kherson Oblast.

Tsarov stated that Liapkin served in the Bars-33 unit and went by the alias "Batyi".

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