Zelenskyy ousts senior SBU official after intelligence agency shootout in Kyiv
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A detachment of the Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate in the Berezniaky neighborhood of Kyiv, where a shootout occurred on September 2 (Photo: Suspilne / Oleksandr Mahula)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired senior Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) official Oleh Khramov following a shootout between SBU and HUR officers in Kyiv, according to a presidential decree signed on September 2.
The decree finalized the dismissal of Khramov, who had led the SBU's Department for the Protection of State Secrets and Licensing since March 2023.
The decree did not provide a specific reason for the dismissal.
The September 2 Kyiv shootout incident
Reports of gunfire in the Berezniaky neighborhood began circulating online early September 2, prompting Kyiv city officials to close Yuriia Shumskoho Street.
The SBU later announced that it had foiled a Russian-backed assassination attempt against a prominent anti-Kremlin opposition leader who was visiting Kyiv for Ukraine's Independence Day.
That announcement followed a September 1 public statement from Aleksandr Fortuna, chief of staff for the Russian Volunteer Corps, a unit operating under HUR. Fortuna revealed that the group’s deputy combat commander, Stepan Kaplunov, had been abducted in Kyiv several days prior. According to Ukrainska Pravda, the shootout in Kyiv was directly connected to Kaplunov’s disappearance.
Kaplunov’s attorney claimed that SBU officers “abducted” his client on August 23, and that the subsequent shootout occurred when security forces brought Kaplunov back to his building to search his apartment. The lawyer added that Kaplunov has since been released.
The head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, Kyrylo Budanov, also addressed the clash. Budanov called for a “thorough and impartial” investigation into the shootout, noting that the State Bureau of Investigation and the Office of the Prosecutor General have already taken over the case.
“No one has the right to abduct servicemen with impunity, open fire on the streets of our cities, or give and carry out criminal orders,” Budanov added.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later announced that Ukraine’s Security Service and military intelligence agency must explain the shootout to the public.
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