A bizarre mini civil war of sorts has erupted among rival Ukrainian security agencies, complete with a wild street shootout and police standoff which has threatened to create more political scandal for President Zelensky - whose office has issued a statement - in an unprecedented saga which seems straight from the plot of a Lioness episode.
Details of the fresh incident, aspects of which may still be unfolding, are murky but widespread videos and local reports say the overnight firefight left wounded in the streets of Kiev. It appears to have started when authorities were investigating an alleged Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) plot against a Russian opposition figure fighting alongside Ukraine forces. But the investigators came upon uncooperative Ukrainian agents among Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR).
Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office indicates that SBU officers (Security Service of Ukraine, which is also sometimes referred to as SSU) came under armed attack by "one of the units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine" while carrying out investigative actions at 10 Shumskoho Street. Some pundits have suggested that a "Russian terror cell" was involved, but so far Ukrainian official statements and media have described what appears a Ukrainian on Ukrainian assault.
Officials said a search at the location turned chaotic when "a group of individuals launched an armed attack on an SSU investigative and operational team."
Another regional media source further details that the "SBU said its officers were conducting urgent investigative measures to collect and document evidence in a pre-trial investigation into a terrorist attack allegedly being prepared by Russian intelligence services."
Were they looking for a Russian 'double agent'? It seems that's what is being described in the emerging media accounts.
Some sources say a standoff ensued for many hours in the capital's Dniprovskyi district, during which time the SBU dispatched its elite " Special Operations Center Alpha". The situation appears to have resolved only once all armed entities jointly agreed to lay down their weapons.
Reports that Officers from the Security Bureau of Ukraine (SBU) opened fire against officers from Ukraine's military intelligence agency (GUR). Some sources say that possibly at least 10 officers are receiving treatment for bullet wounds...
It seems that the SBU has taken control of the situation, and has the upper hand over the military intelligence side at this time:
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.
Thus far, Western mainstream media has paid scant attention to it, and typically ignores or at least under-reports such internal scandals in Ukraine.
Local Ukrayinska Pravda has issued the following timeline and outline of events, via Yahoo News:
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 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]
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. 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.
Ukrainska Pravda learned that representatives of the State Bureau of Investigation and the head of the SSU's Special Group Alpha had arrived at the scene.
The SSU 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.
Unconfirmed reports of a fatality...
Meanwhile, Zelensky's office has directly acknowledged and addressed the episode. Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the President's Office and former head of Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, vowed that a transparent investigation is urgently taking place.
"The State Bureau of Investigation will now deal with the situation. It is important to ensure a thorough and impartial investigation, but no one has the right to abduct servicemen with impunity, open fire in the streets of our cities, or issue or carry out criminal orders," he stated.
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