Ukrainian intelligence officer shot useless in broad daylight in Kyiv

[ad_1] <img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/681e/live/c64516a0-5dac-11f0-994b-7bf5a5074c2f.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/681e/live/c64516a0-5dac-11f0-994b-7bf5a5074c2f.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/681e/live/c64516a0-5dac-11f0-994b-7bf5a5074c2f.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/681e/live/c64516a0-5dac-11f0-994b-7bf5a5074c2f.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/681e/live/c64516a0-5dac-11f0-994b-7bf5a5074c2f.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/681e/live/c64516a0-5dac-11f0-994b-7bf5a5074c2f.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/681e/live/c64516a0-5dac-11f0-994b-7bf5a5074c2f.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/681e/live/c64516a0-5dac-11f0-994b-7bf5a5074c2f.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Reuters A man in jeans and a dark t-shirt holding a plastic bag and a holdall in one hand walks out of a building towards a car park in Kyiv." class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Reuters CCTV footage exhibits the SBU officer heading exterior shortly after 09:00 native time

A senior Ukrainian intelligence officer has been gunned down in broad daylight in Kyiv, officers have mentioned.

The agent of the home Safety Service of Ukraine (SBU) was shot a number of instances in a parking lot after being approached by an unidentified assailant who then fled the scene, footage circulated on social media exhibits.

The spy company didn't establish the sufferer, although Ukrainian media retailers have named him as Colonel Ivan Voronych.

The SBU is primarily involved with inside safety and counter-intelligence, akin to the UK's MI5. However because the starting of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, it has additionally performed a distinguished function in assassinations and sabotage assaults deep inside Russia.

Sources inside Ukraine's safety providers have beforehand informed the media - including the BBC - that they have been behind the killing of the high-ranking Russian Gen Igor Kirillov in December 2024.

Earlier this 12 months, Gen Yaroslav Moskalik was killed in a car bomb attack in Moscow - an incident the Kremlin blamed on Kyiv. Ukraine's safety providers have by no means formally admitted duty for the deaths.

Neither the SBU nor the Kyiv police gave a doable motive for the capturing.

The Ukrainian capital's police pressure mentioned in a press release that officers arrived on the scene to discover a man's physique with a gunshot wound.

It mentioned officers have been working to establish the assailant and that "measures are being taken to detain him".

The SBU mentioned it was taking "a complete set of measures to make clear all of the circumstances of the crime and convey the perpetrators to justice".

CCTV footage - which has been verified by the information company Reuters - exhibits a person in denims and a darkish T-shirt exiting a constructing within the southern Holosiivskyi district shortly after 09:00 native time (06:00 GMT) on Thursday.

As he walks to a close-by automobile whereas holding a plastic bag and a holdall, one other man will be seen operating in the direction of him.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/d1aa/live/bc0752c0-5dac-11f0-994b-7bf5a5074c2f.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/d1aa/live/bc0752c0-5dac-11f0-994b-7bf5a5074c2f.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/d1aa/live/bc0752c0-5dac-11f0-994b-7bf5a5074c2f.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/d1aa/live/bc0752c0-5dac-11f0-994b-7bf5a5074c2f.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/d1aa/live/bc0752c0-5dac-11f0-994b-7bf5a5074c2f.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/d1aa/live/bc0752c0-5dac-11f0-994b-7bf5a5074c2f.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/d1aa/live/bc0752c0-5dac-11f0-994b-7bf5a5074c2f.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/d1aa/live/bc0752c0-5dac-11f0-994b-7bf5a5074c2f.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Reuters A man appearing to wear dark shorts and body armour is seen running in a car park in Kyiv." class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Reuters The unidentified assailant will be seen operating in the direction of the sufferer earlier than capturing him a number of instances

On-line information website Ukrainska Pravda studies that the assailant had used a pistol and had shot the SBU officer 5 instances, citing unnamed sources.

The obvious assassination follows what Ukraine described as the most important Russian aerial assault on Tuesday, when 728 drones and 13 cruise or ballistic missiles struck cities throughout the nation.

In a single day into Thursday, a Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital killed at the least two individuals and injured 16 others.

The strikes - which hit eight districts throughout the town - concerned 18 missiles and 400 drones, officers mentioned. Russia has been repeatedly accused of focusing on civilian areas.

In the meantime, combating on the entrance line continues, with Russian forces slowly making advances in western Ukraine and retaking management of the a part of Russia's Kursk area that Ukrainian forces seized in a shock offensive final summer season.

Russia presently controls round a fifth of Ukrainian territory, together with the southern Crimean peninsula it annexed in 2014.

Efforts to barter a ceasefire within the greater than three-year-long battle have faltered, with US President Donald Trump changing into more and more impatient together with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.