Zelensky dismisses senior SBU official after Kyiv shootout between GUR and SBU
President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on 2 September dismissing Oleh Vitaliyovych Khramov from his post as head of the SBU's Department of State Secrets Protection and Licensing. The move follows an armed clash in Kyiv's Dnipro district between personnel of Ukraine's military intelligence (GUR) and the Security Service (SBU), connected to the reported abduction of Russian Volunteer Corps deputy commander Stepan Kaplunov.
Key points
- Decree No. 868/2026, dated 2 September, removed Oleh Vitaliyovych Khramov from the post of head of the SBU's Department of State Secrets Protection and Licensing.
- The decree, published on the Office of the President's website, does not state a reason for the dismissal; Khramov had held the post since March 2023.
- On 1 September the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) said its deputy commander for combat operations, Stepan Kaplunov, had been kidnapped by unknown persons in the courtyard of a building.
- On the morning of 2 September a shootout between GUR and SBU personnel took place in Kyiv's Dnipro district; according to Ukrainska Pravda, three GUR officers were injured.
- The SBU said it and GUR had jointly prevented a terrorist attack allegedly planned by Russia's FSB against a leader of a Russian opposition national movement who had arrived in Ukraine.
- The Office of the Prosecutor General opened pretrial proceedings over threats and assault on law enforcement officers; the State Bureau of Investigation (DBR) is also handling the case.
- Zelensky said shooting inside Ukraine is permitted only against Russian occupiers and that no other armed clash would be tolerated.
Why it matters
The dismissal ties a senior personnel decision directly to an armed confrontation between two Ukrainian state security structures inside Kyiv, raising questions about inter-agency coordination, command accountability and the use of force between units of Ukraine's own Defense and security forces. The episode involves a commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps, a unit fighting against Russia, with competing public claims of alleged FSB ties versus an unlawful abduction — complicating Ukraine's posture toward Russian opposition fighters on its territory. Zelensky's public framing of the event as zero-tolerance signals forthcoming accountability and further personnel decisions across the special services.
What happened
On 2 September President Volodymyr Zelensky signed decree No. 868/2026 dismissing Oleh Vitaliyovych Khramov from the post of head of the SBU's Department of State Secrets Protection and Licensing. The decree was published on the Office of the President's website and gave no reason for the dismissal; Khramov had held the position since March 2023. The personnel move came a day after the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) said its deputy commander for combat operations, Stepan Kaplunov, had been kidnapped by unknown persons in the courtyard of a building. On the morning of 2 September a shootout broke out in Kyiv's Dnipro district between personnel of Ukraine's military intelligence (GUR) and the Security Service (SBU); Ukrainska Pravda reported that three GUR officers were injured. Kaplunov's lawyer Taras Borovsky said law enforcement officers had come to the fighter's home to "plant something prohibited," after which his comrades arrived and gunfire was heard. The SBU said its investigative-operational group had come under armed attack by members of a Defense Forces unit during an investigation into a terrorist act allegedly organized by Russia's FSB against a leader of a Russian opposition national movement who had arrived in Ukraine; it also said it and GUR had jointly prevented the attack. Investigators from the State Bureau of Investigation (DBR) and the head of the SBU's "Alpha" special unit arrived at the scene. The Office of the Prosecutor General opened pretrial proceedings over threats and assault on law enforcement officers. Zelensky said shooting inside Ukraine is permitted only against Russian occupiers and announced that there would be accountability and personnel decisions regarding the heads of the special services. Head of the Office of the President Kyrylo Budanov said the DBR is handling the situation and that no one has the right to kidnap servicemen with impunity or open fire in Ukrainian cities.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
All supplied coverage comes from Ukrainian agencies and media and centers on the official presidential decree and its implications for SBU leadership. Ukrainian sources foreground the link between the dismissal and the GUR–SBU shootout in Kyiv, and underline Zelensky's public stance that armed clashes inside Ukraine are unacceptable and will bring accountability. Reporting highlights the involvement of top Ukrainian officials (Zelensky, Budanov) and law-enforcement bodies (SBU, DBR, Office of the Prosecutor General), framing the response as a matter of state authority and internal discipline.
Where reporting differs
Sources give different accounts of what happened to Stepan Kaplunov and who initiated the armed confrontation. The RDK and the commander of GUR's "Timur" unit describe Kaplunov as kidnapped in broad daylight by SBU officers and held without charges; Kaplunov himself rejects the SBU's claims of FSB links. The SBU instead frames the incident as an armed attack on its investigative-operational group during a counter-terrorist operation targeting an FSB-organized plot, with the attackers described as members of a Defense Forces unit who were detained. Sources also differ on the human cost: Ukrainska Pravda reports three GUR officers injured, while other articles describe shots fired on the street and an armed attack on the SBU group but do not specify injuries. Coverage of the dismissal itself varies in detail — some outlets simply note that Zelensky signed the decree, while others add the decree number (868/2026), publication on the Office of the President's website, Khramov's tenure since March 2023, and the absence of a stated reason.
Background
Khramov had headed the SBU's Department of State Secrets Protection and Licensing since March 2023. The dismissal decree was published on the website of the Office of the President and gave no reason for the removal. On 1 September the RDK said Kaplunov had been kidnapped by unknown persons; the SBU and GUR later said they had jointly prevented a terrorist attack allegedly planned by Russia's FSB against a leader of a Russian opposition national movement who had arrived in Ukraine. The Office of the Prosecutor General opened pretrial proceedings over threats and assault on law enforcement officers in connection with the incident.