Ukraine's Security Service admits using weapons in Kyiv but accuses Defence Intelligence of attacking its officers

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has said that its officers came under armed attack while conducting investigative actions in a case concerning a terrorist attack being plotted by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB). The Prosecutor General's Office has launched a pre-trial investigation.

Source: Security Service of Ukraine; Prosecutor General's Office

Details: The SSU maintains that its officers were carrying out urgent investigative actions to collect and document evidence as part of a pre-trial investigation into a terrorist attack being plotted by Russian secret services.

The SSU said that during a search at one location, "a group of individuals launched an armed attack on an SSU investigative and operational team". Ukrainska Pravda has learned that the location was 10 Shumskoho Street.

These individuals attempted to obstruct the investigative actions and used vehicles to prevent law enforcement officers from getting through, the SSU said.

Quote from the SSU: "A special forces unit from the SSU's Special Operations Centre Alpha was deployed to stop the attack and ensure the safety of those involved in the procedural actions. In the process of putting an end to the armed resistance, the law enforcement officers used weapons.

Some of those who resisted were injured in the incident. The attackers have been detained.

Initial investigative actions have established that the detainees belong to a unit from Ukraine's defence forces. Weapons and documents have been seized from them."

Details: Ukrainska Pravda previously reported that the incident was a standoff between the SSU and Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU).

Meanwhile, the Prosecutor General's Office said that a pre-trial investigation has been launched under its procedural supervision into an allegation of threats against a law enforcement officer and an attempt on their life.

"All the circumstances of the incident and the role of each participant are currently being established, and the final legal classification of their actions is being determined," the Prosecutor General's Office said.

Background:

• On 1 September, the Russian Volunteer Corps said that its deputy commander for combat operations, Stepan Kaplunov, had been abducted by unknown individuals in the courtyard of a residential building.
• The SBI confirmed to Ukrainska Pravda that it had received a complaint about an abduction from Kaplunov's lawyers and that investigators were examining it to determine the appropriate legal classification before entering the information into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations.
• On 2 September, the SSU said that, jointly with DIU, it had foiled a terrorist attack against a leader of a Russian opposition political nationalist movement who had arrived in Ukraine. No further details were provided.
• DIU released a similar statement, but it was later deleted.
• Police cordoned off Shumskoho Street in Kyiv's Dniprovskyi district, where the standoff between the SSU and DIU took place.
• Sources told Ukrainska Pravda that three DIU officers were injured as a result of the incident.

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