A Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) officer was shot and killed in Kyiv’s Holosiivskyi district on Thursday, July 10, according to the SBU press service, which confirmed the incident to Kyiv Post.
Ukrainian media outlets are reporting that the victim was a colonel, though officials have not yet confirmed this detail.
“A criminal case has been opened into the murder of an SBU employee in the Holosiivskyi district of Kyiv,” the SBU told Kyiv Post.
The Security Service and the National Police are conducting a joint investigation to establish the circumstances of the shooting and to identify and apprehend the perpetrator.
A pre-trial investigation has been initiated under Article 348 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - an attempt on the life of a law enforcement officer or serviceman.
Police continue to work at the scene. A video from the area has been released by the police, but officials have not disclosed further details or confirmed the victim’s rank.
The incident was first reported at 10:32 a.m., when police responded to a call and discovered the body of a man with a gunshot wound. Investigators, criminal police, dog handlers, and other emergency units were deployed.
A low-quality surveillance video of the murder has gone viral on social media, showing a man approaching a car before another individual runs up, appears to fire several shots, and then flees the scene.
The incident follows a separate fatal shooting in Kyiv’s Desnianskyi district on the morning of July 8. In that case, an unidentified individual approached a car, shot the man inside, and fled. That case is being treated as premeditated murder.
This article might be updated as more information becomes available