Standoff between Security Service and Defence Intelligence: Zelenskyy announces personnel changes

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has commented on a shootout that took place in Kyiv between separate units of Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) and Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU).

Source: Zelenskyy in his evening address

Quote: "Regarding today's absolutely shameful situation between separate SSU and DIU units that took place in Kyiv. We have spoken with Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko.

The Prosecutor General and the State Bureau of Investigation will establish all the details: all the testimony and statements by those involved in this incident will be examined, as will the entire situation step by step. There must be accountability, including personnel changes by the heads of the security services regarding those involved in what happened, as well as internal investigations within both agencies."

Details: Zelenskyy added that only Russian occupiers can be shot at in Ukraine and no other exchange of gunfire will ever be regarded as permissible.

Background:

• On 1 September, the Russian Volunteer Corps said that Stepan Kaplunov, Deputy Commander for Combat Operations, had been abducted by unknown individuals in the courtyard of the building where he was living. [The Russian Volunteer Corps is a military and political organisation established in 2022 that consists of Russian volunteers who have been fighting for Ukraine since 2014 – ed.]
• On the morning of 2 September, reports spread on social media about a shootout said to be between DIU and the SSU in Kyiv's Dniprovskyi district, and that it was somehow connected to Kaplunov's disappearance.
• Later, officers from the State Bureau of Investigation and the head of the SSU's Special Operations Centre Alpha arrived at the scene. According to Ukrainska Pravda sources, three DIU officers were injured as a result of the confrontation.
• Meanwhile, the SSU said this morning that, together with DIU, it had foiled a terrorist attack against a leader of a Russian opposition political national movement who had arrived in Ukraine.
• Kaplunov's lawyer Taras Borovskyi said that the serviceman has been released, but his whereabouts are currently unknown.
• On 2 September, Zelenskyy signed a decree dismissing Oleh Khramov, Head of the Department for the Protection of State Secrets and Licensing at the Security Service of Ukraine.

Your support on Patreon helps us keep the news free and accessible.