Armed clash between SBU and HUR in Kyiv linked to missing Russian Volunteer Corps deputy commander

Why it matters

An armed confrontation between two of Ukraine's wartime security and intelligence services on a Kyiv street is an extraordinary event during a full-scale war. Several HUR personnel were reportedly wounded, with at least two serious injuries. The President publicly condemned the incident, signalled dismissals and internal investigations in both services, and the head of the Office of the President — himself a former HUR chief — publicly called for an impartial investigation. The episode also exposes a competing narrative between an official joint SBU–HUR counter-terrorism framing and an account from Kaplunov's lawyer and media that characterises the operation as an extra-procedural detention of a HUR-affiliated unit's commander.

What happened

On the morning of 2 September, Kyiv police closed Yurii Shumskoho Street in the Dnipro district in both directions and rerouted public transport after gunshots were reported in the area. According to Ukrainska Pravda, the shooting involved representatives of the SBU and HUR. The SBU and the Office of the Prosecutor General said that during a search connected to a joint SBU–HUR counter-terrorism operation, a group of persons carried out an armed attack on the SBU's investigative-operational team, blocked law-enforcement vehicles with cars and resisted; the SBU's Alpha special operations unit used weapons to stop the armed resistance, and those detained were identified as belonging to one of the units of Ukraine's Defence Forces. Weapons and documents were seized from them, and the Office of the Prosecutor General opened pre-trial proceedings on threats and an attempt on the life of a law-enforcement officer.

Media and Kaplunov's lawyer Taras Borovsky give a different account of the same events. They link the incident to the case of Stepan Kaplunov, deputy commander for combat operations of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), a unit reported as subordinated to HUR. The RDK reported his disappearance on 28 August; his lawyer said he had been taken on 23 August without a detention protocol or defence counsel. According to Borovsky, SBU officers arrived at the apartment where Kaplunov lived in the night of 1–2 September to conduct a search in his presence, with GUR personnel and members of GUR's "Tymur" special unit already there. Borovsky says the commander of the "Tymur" unit negotiated between the sides, the parties shook hands and most HUR servicemen began to disperse, and that it was only then that the SBU's "power bloc" began detaining unarmed HUR personnel and opened fire. Ukrainska Pravda sources reported three HUR personnel injured; Borovsky said two were seriously wounded (one fighting for his life) and one lightly wounded. As of his statement, Kaplunov was at liberty but his whereabouts were unknown to the lawyer.

The SBU and HUR had earlier stated that they had jointly prevented an FSB-prepared terrorist attack against one of the leaders of the Russian opposition political national movement who had come to Ukraine for Independence Day; the SBU did not publicly name the figure, while media (LIGA.net, Ukrainska Pravda) reported it was Kaplunov. Investigators from the State Bureau of Investigation (DBR) and the head of the SBU's Alpha special unit arrived at the scene.

President Zelensky responded in his evening address on 2 September, calling the incident between SBU and HUR units "absolutely shameful," saying he had spoken with Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, and stating that the Office of the Prosecutor General and the DBR would establish all details step by step. He demanded personnel decisions regarding the participants of the shooting by the heads of the special services and internal investigations in both services, and said that shooting in Ukraine is permissible only against Russian occupiers in defence of Ukraine. Head of the Office of the President and former HUR chief Kyrylo Budanov called for a "thorough and impartial" DBR investigation and stated that no one has the right to abduct servicemen with impunity, open fire in the streets of Ukrainian cities, or give and carry out criminal orders. Presidential communications adviser Dmytro Lytvyn said Zelensky "came down on the heads of the relevant structures" — acting SBU head Oleksandr Poklad and HUR head Oleh Ivashchenko — and demanded they inform the public because the agencies had been silent. Zelensky also signed a decree dismissing Oleh Khramov, head of the SBU's Department of State Secrets Protection and Licensing.

How Ukrainian sources describe it

All supplied sources are Ukrainian. Ukrainian outlets frame the story primarily as an internal clash between two of Ukraine's wartime security and intelligence bodies, with prominent coverage of President Zelensky's condemnation and his demand for personnel decisions, presenting it as a national-security and governance issue. Coverage tends to present both the official joint SBU–HUR counter-terrorism narrative and the competing account from Kaplunov's lawyer and RDK-aligned voices side by side, rather than endorsing either framing.

Where reporting differs

Three main disagreements appear across the sources. First, casualty count and severity: Ukrainska Pravda sources reported three HUR personnel injured, while Kaplunov's lawyer Borovsky said two were seriously wounded (with later statements varying on whether one or two were seriously wounded) and one was lightly wounded. Second, who initiated the violence: the SBU and the Office of the Prosecutor General say an armed group attacked the SBU investigative-operational team, blocked vehicles and resisted, prompting SBU Alpha to use weapons; Borovsky and the GUR-aligned account say the sides had shaken hands after negotiations and that the SBU's "power bloc" then opened fire on unarmed HUR personnel. Third, the underlying operation: the joint SBU–HUR official narrative frames the incident as a foiled FSB terrorist attack on an unnamed Russian opposition figure, while Borovsky and media identify the operation as linked to Kaplunov's detention and characterise the counter-terrorism framing as a cover for an "extra-procedural detention." The sources also note that there is no official confirmation of events from HUR itself.

Background

Stepan Kaplunov is the deputy commander for combat operations of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), a unit reported as subordinated to HUR; the RDK reported his disappearance on 28 August, and his lawyer said he had been taken on 23 August without a detention protocol or defence counsel. LIGA.net has reported that in December 2025 Russia placed a $500,000 bounty on RDK commander Denys Kapustin, a plot Ukraine says it exposed and turned into a staged-death operation, after which it received the $500,000 from the Russians. The 2 September shooting occurred in the context of a joint SBU–HUR announcement that the two services had prevented an FSB-prepared terrorist attack against a leader of the Russian opposition political movement who had come to Ukraine for Independence Day. Kyrylo Budanov, who previously headed HUR, now heads the Office of the President, placing him in a position to publicly comment on the dispute between his former service and the SBU.