[UPDATED: Sept. 3, 12:31 pm
, Kyiv time. Updated the details surrounding the case]
A shootout took place in Kyiv between serving members of the country’s two leading intelligence agencies on Wednesday morning. The incident took place on Yuriya Shumskoho street on the left bank of Kyiv, in the city’s Dniprovskyi district. The street has since been blocked off as of Wednesday afternoon.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Preliminary reports suggest that officers from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) engaged in a firefight with soldiers from Ukraine’s Military Intelligence (HUR) while working on a Russian espionage attempt involving the deputy commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK). The SBU is primarily responsible for domestic intelligence and counterterrorism activities, whereas HUR, as part of the military, is primarily tasked with foreign intelligence and reconnaissance. The RDK is a military unit under HUR made up of Russian nationals fighting on behalf of Ukraine against Moscow. What do authorities say? Following media reports of the shooting, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office issued a statement at 12:10 p.m. announcing a new criminal probe. According to the office, SBU officers received orders to prevent an unspecified “terrorist act” from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). During the operation, a group of armed men is said to have attacked the SBU officers. “During a search at one of the addresses, a group of individuals carried out an armed attack on the SBU operational-investigative group,” the statement says.
