Zelenskyy: Deputy heads of Security Service and Defence Intelligence to be dismissed over standoff between employees

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that the deputy heads of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) and Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) are to be dismissed over an incident involving a shootout between employees of the two agencies.

Source: Zelenskyy's evening address

Quote: "Two individuals implicated in the shooting have been formally named as suspects – a Security Service officer and a Defence Intelligence officer. All the other circumstances of what happened are also being investigated, from the very first day of this entire situation."

Details: Zelenskyy said he had discussed the situation with Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko.

Zelenskyy said the actions of the heads of both agencies will be assessed based on the results of an internal investigation. Decisions regarding the deputy heads of the SSU and DIU have already been taken.

Quote: "Personnel decisions have already been made in both agencies – the deputy heads who bear responsibility for this situation will be dismissed. This is entirely fair – both agencies must be held accountable; both acted in a way that is absolutely unacceptable."

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 the building where he was living.
• On the morning of 2 September, reports spread on social media about a shootout said to be between Defence Intelligence of Ukraine and the Security Service of Ukraine in Kyiv's Dniprovskyi district, and that it was somehow connected to Kaplunov's disappearance.
• Meanwhile, the SSU said in the 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.
• Later, Kaplunov's lawyer, Taras Borovskyi, said that the serviceman had been released, but his whereabouts were unknown.
• On the morning of 3 September, the SSU released a video in which Kaplunov admitted to having links to Russia's Federal Security Service and said an attempt had been made to recruit him to assassinate Ukrainian military personnel and other individuals. However, his lawyer insists that the confession was made under duress.
• On 3 September, Kaplunov himself also stated that he had been abducted by SSU officers and described his time in a "secret prison", where he was threatened with "disappearing forever".
• Kaplunov also said that the SSU had attempted, with his help, to discredit Dmytro Ivanov, deputy commander of the Timur Special Unit, and Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the President's Office.
• Officers from the State Bureau of Investigation have opened a pre-trial investigation into the circumstances of the confrontation between SSU officers and DIU servicemen.

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