Why did Ukraine’s security and intelligence officers clash in Kyiv?
An armed confrontation between members of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) and military intelligence-linked personnel in Kyiv left three people wounded this week, exposing tensions between two of the country’s key security agencies.
The incident is now under investigation, while both sides have offered sharply different accounts of what happened. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has demanded explanations from the agencies.
What triggered the confrontation?
The dispute centers on Stepan Kaplunov, deputy commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), a unit of Russian nationals fighting for Ukraine under the military intelligence agency (HUR).
Kaplunov says he was detained near his Kyiv home on Aug. 23 by people who initially identified themselves as police officers. He says he was handcuffed, blindfolded and held for nine days, during which he was questioned by SBU personnel.
The SBU says it had received intelligence that Kaplunov was preparing an assassination attempt against a Russian opposition figure expected to visit Ukraine for Independence Day. The agency also accused him of contacts with Russia’s FSB security service.
Kaplunov denies the allegations. He says he admitted to FSB contacts while under psychological pressure and claims the operation was intended to discredit HUR-linked commanders and Kyrylo Budanov, the former military intelligence chief who now heads the Presidential Office.
Kaplunov is currently free, and his precise legal status remains unclear. The SBU has not publicly announced charges against him.
How did it turn into shooting?
After Kaplunov disappeared, RVC members contacted HUR and other Ukrainian authorities in an attempt to locate him. Some of his fellow soldiers later waited at his apartment.
On the night of Sept. 1-2, SBU personnel brought Kaplunov there to conduct investigative actions and encountered HUR-linked personnel inside.
More personnel from both sides arrived, including members of the SBU’s Alpha special forces. A confrontation followed as the SBU attempted to detain several HUR-linked servicemen.
Video from the scene captured a gunshot during the confrontation, followed by SBU special forces opening fire. Three HUR-linked personnel were wounded.
The sides dispute who initiated the violence. RVC commander Denis Kapustin says SBU officers fired first, while the SBU says its personnel were attacked while carrying out investigative actions.
What happens now?
Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation is examining the shooting. The Prosecutor General’s Office has said investigators are looking into an alleged attack on law enforcement officers.
The SBU itself described the confrontation as an “unacceptable situation.”
Following the incident, Zelenskyy dismissed Oleh Khramov, head of an SBU department responsible for state secrets protection and licensing.
HUR-linked officers say tensions between the two agencies predate the latest confrontation and stretch back to 2022.
For now, however, key questions remain unanswered - including the circumstances of Kaplunov’s nine-day detention, the evidence behind the SBU’s allegations against him, and exactly how the armed confrontation began.
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