Police close Kyiv street after reported shootout between Security Service and Defence Intelligence – photos
Police have closed Shumskoho Street in Kyiv's Dniprovskyi district. Sources have told Ukrainska Pravda that a standoff is taking place there between the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) and Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU).
Source: Ukrainska Pravda's correspondent at the scene; Kyiv City State Administration
Details: Ukrainska Pravda previously reported that information emerged on social media on the morning of 2 September about a shootout involving DIU and the SSU in Kyiv's Dniprovskyi district. Some social media users claimed that the incident was somehow connected to the disappearance of Stepan Kaplunov, deputy commander for combat operations of DIU's Russian Volunteer Corps unit.
Ukrainska Pravda has learned that the standoff is ongoing as of the morning of Wednesday 2 September. Sources said three DIU personnel have been injured.
Meanwhile, law enforcement officers told Ukrainska Pravda's correspondent at the scene that a "special police operation is underway".
Police have cordoned off the road and are turning pedestrians away from the area.
Update: Kyiv City State Administration reported that public transport services have been rerouted since police closed Yuriia Shumskoho Street in both directions.
Background:
- On 1 September, the Russian Volunteer Corps said that Kaplunov had been abducted by unknown individuals in the courtyard of a residential building.
- Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) confirmed to Ukrainska Pravda that it has received a complaint about an abduction from Kaplunov's lawyers and that investigators are examining it to determine the appropriate legal classification before entering the information into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations.
- On 2 September, the Security Service of Ukraine said that, jointly with Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, it has foiled a terrorist attack against a leader of a Russian opposition political nationalist movement who had arrived in Ukraine. No further details were provided.
- A similar statement appeared on DIU's official pages but was later deleted.
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