Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has arrested an FSB agent in Kyiv who tried to assassinate an officer of Ukraine’s Military Intelligence (HUR), the agency said.
The 28-year-old foreign national was detained “red-handed” after drawing a pistol and aiming at the intelligence officer in a central Kyiv establishment.
Investigators said the suspect was recruited by the Russian FSB in his home country through Telegram channels while seeking easy income.
Following Russian instructions, he posed as a tourist and initially stayed in Pervomaisk, Mykolaiv region, where he purchased several smartphones and SIM cards, regularly changing them to communicate covertly with his handlers.
He later traveled to Kyiv, received photos and approximate locations of his target, and retrieved a pistol and ammunition from a cache. He was reportedly promised $50,000 and legal residency in an EU country for completing the assassination.
Authorities seized the firearm, ammunition, and a smartphone containing evidence of contacts with the FSB.
The SBU charged the suspect with attempted premeditated murder, aiding an aggressor state, and illegal possession of weapons, ammunition, or explosives. He remains in custody and faces life imprisonment with confiscation of property.
The operation was carried out by the SBU’s Counterintelligence Department and the Mykolaiv Regional Office under the guidance of the regional prosecutor’s office.