Ukraine says it has killed two Russian FSB agents under suspicion of assassinating the country’s special operations chief.
Colonel Ivan Voronich, head of an SBU intelligence Special Operations Centre, was killed instantly after being shot with a pistol and a silencer in Kyiv.
Five shots rang out after he exited a residential block and Voronych was later pronounced dead at the scene.
A man and a woman were spotted fleeing the area, Kyiv’s Holosiivski district. The woman was earlier named by the SBU – Ukraine’s secret service – as Narmin Guliyeva, 34. The man has not been identified by Ukrainian authorities.
In a statement, the SBU said: "This morning, a special operation was conducted, during which members of the agent-combat group of the FSB of the Russian Federation began to resist, so they were eliminated.
"The murder of the Ukrainian defender was committed by two people - a man and a woman.
"Their supervisor ordered them to monitor the SBU officer, establish his daily schedule and routes.
"Later, the [Russian] handed over the coordinates of the cache to the killers, where there was a pistol with a silencer."
It is understood that Voronych planned sensitive missions developed to target the Russian military and embarrass Vladimir Putin.
Sources from Putin’s ranks boasted that a Kremlin agent had assassinated the colonel for conducting secret operations from behind Russian lines.
It is believed that Putin ordered revenge hits after being embarrassed by the success of Operation Spiderweb in June, which destroyed £5.2 billion worth of Russian warplanes.
Lieutenant General and Head of the Security Service of Ukraine said: "This morning, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) carried out the detention of an agent-combat group of the Russian FSB, who had been routed to Ukraine in advance, and three days ago committed the murder of SBU officer Colonel Ivan Voronych, our brave comrade.
“As a result of covert investigative and active counterintelligence operations, the enemy hideout was located, and this morning, active measures were taken to detain them.”
Voronych was a senior operative on the 1st Division of the 16th Directorate of the Special Operations Centre.
Former Ukrainian MP Ihor Mosiychuk said: “As a result of the shooting, the victim sustained multiple penetrating gunshot wounds and died at the scene.”
Russian news outlet Readovka said Voronych was part of a special Ukrainian secret service which had carried out operations inside Russia.
Readovka said the force “operates not only as a law enforcement entity but also takes part in highly sensitive operations on Russian territory”.
Another Russian news outlet Voenkor Kotenok TG said Voronych had “founded a division that causes problems for Russia”.
Another pro-Putin propaganda channel lauded the success of the kill, celebrating: “A fat target. Applause to the liquidators”.
