Kyiv shootout between SBU and GUR erupts over alleged FSB plot against Chechen exile leader Zakayev
Ukraine's SBU said it prevented an FSB-ordered plot to assassinate Akhmed Zakayev, the exiled head of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria's government, who was in Kyiv for Independence Day on 24 August. The case targeted Stepan Kaplunov, a Russian-national volunteer and deputy commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) embedded in a GUR special unit. On 2 September, a shootout in Kyiv's Berezniaky district during a search of Kaplunov's apartment left three GUR personnel wounded. Kaplunov and RDK say he was abducted by SBU officers on 23 August and his confession was extracted under pressure; the SBU says his group attacked its investigative team. President Zelensky called the incident 'absolutely shameful,' an SBU official was dismissed, and the DBR and Prosecutor General's Office opened investigations.
Key points
- SBU said on 3 September that Stepan Kaplunov, RDK deputy commander, had FSB contacts and was tasked with assassinating Zakayev and Ukrainian servicemembers for money.
- Media citing law enforcement sources identified Akhmed Zakayev as the target; Zakayev's circle said they learned of the plot only from the media.
- A shootout in Kyiv's Berezniaky district on 2 September during a search of Kaplunov's apartment left three GUR operatives wounded, per Ukrainska Pravda sources.
- Kaplunov and RDK say he was abducted by SBU officers posing as police on 23 August and held without charges; his lawyer says the confession video was made under threats of death.
- SBU says its investigative team was attacked by an armed group trying to obstruct the operation; law enforcement opened a criminal case over the attack on SBU officers.
- President Zelensky called the incident 'absolutely shameful' and said heads of the special services must make personnel decisions; a presidential decree dismissed SBU official Oleh Khramov.
- GUR stated a 'targeted disinformation campaign' is being waged to discredit military intelligence and its combat units; the DBR and Prosecutor General's Office are investigating.
Why it matters
The episode exposes an open, armed clash between two of Ukraine's principal security bodies, the SBU and military intelligence (GUR), with casualties on the GUR side. It centers on an alleged FSB plot to kill a foreign opposition figure on Ukrainian soil during a national holiday, and on the detention of a senior volunteer combat commander with more than a decade of service, raising questions about vetting and oversight inside Ukraine's defense and intelligence ecosystem. President Zelensky's personal intervention and the dismissal of an SBU official signal the political weight assigned to the fallout. GUR's framing of the case as a deliberate disinformation campaign against military intelligence adds a parallel information war to the operational dispute.
What happened
On 1 September, RDK chief of staff Oleksandr Fortuna said Stepan Kaplunov, a Russian-national who has fought for Ukraine since 2014 and serves as RDK deputy commander for combat operations inside the GUR-affiliated 'Timur' unit, had been abducted in the courtyard of his Kyiv home. In the night and morning of 2 September, shooting was reported in the Berezniaky residential area of Kyiv, with traffic blocked on Yuriya Shumskoho Street. Media cited sources in law enforcement saying a clash between SBU and GUR operatives left three GUR personnel wounded. The SBU said its team was conducting urgent investigative actions in a terrorism case organized by Russian special services when a group of persons committed an armed attack on the operational-investigative group and tried to block its work with vehicles; law enforcement opened a criminal case over the attack. The same day, the SBU announced it had prevented an assassination attempt on a leader of the Russian opposition movement who had arrived in Kyiv for Independence Day; media citing law enforcement sources identified the target as Akhmed Zakayev, head of the government of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in exile, who was in Ukraine on 24 August. Zakayev's circle said they learned of the plot only from the media. On 3 September, the SBU said Kaplunov had contacts with the FSB, had been tasked with assassinating Zakayev and several Ukrainian Defense Forces servicemembers for money, and had admitted the contacts; the SBU published a video in which Kaplunov says people from Russian special services contacted him, and screenshots of correspondence allegedly from his phone. Kaplunov and RDK gave a sharply different account: Kaplunov said he was seized on 23 August by individuals posing as police, taken to a 'secret prison' where he was shackled and chained, and subjected over the first three days to physical and psychological pressure by General Poklad to confess FSB contacts and to implicate his commander Dmytro Ivanov; he denied the substance of the confession. His lawyer, Taras Borovsky, said the SBU video was filmed under threats of death. RDK published surveillance footage dated 24 August that it says shows SBU officers entering Kaplunov's apartment with large sports bags; RDK handed the footage to the DBR. The DBR received a complaint from Kaplunov's lawyers about his disappearance, and the Office of the Prosecutor General opened a pre-trial investigation. GUR said a 'targeted disinformation campaign' was being waged against military intelligence. President Zelensky called the incident 'absolutely shameful,' demanded personnel decisions and internal investigations in both services, and a presidential decree dismissed SBU official Oleh Khramov, head of the SBU department for state secrets protection and licensing. Kyrylo Budanov, former GUR head and current head of the President's Office, called for a 'thorough and impartial' investigation, and presidential communications adviser Dmytro Lytvyn said the Prosecutor General's Office and the DBR are clarifying the circumstances.
Where reporting differs
Sources disagree on the date and circumstances of Kaplunov's initial detention: the SBU frames events around a counter-terrorism operation that met armed resistance from Kaplunov's associates, while Kaplunov and RDK say he was abducted by SBU officers posing as police on 23 August and held without charges. They also disagree on the 2 September shootout in Berezniaky — media described a clash between SBU and GUR operatives that wounded three GUR personnel, while the SBU says its investigative team was attacked by an armed group trying to obstruct the operation. The authenticity of Kaplunov's confession is contested: the SBU cites his admission and published correspondence from his phone; Kaplunov and his lawyer say the confession was extracted under physical and psychological pressure, including threats of death. The target of the alleged plot is also framed differently: the SBU publicly named only 'a leader of the Russian opposition movement,' while media sources identified Zakayev specifically, and Zakayev's circle said they learned of the plot only from the media and received no official notification. At the framing level, GUR and Kaplunov describe a deliberate SBU operation to discredit the 'Timur' unit and military intelligence, while the SBU describes a legitimate counter-terrorism case disrupted by armed interference.
Background
Stepan Kaplunov is a Russian-national volunteer who has fought for Ukraine since 2014; he was seriously wounded during the 2022 Kyiv campaign and recovered over about nine months before joining the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) in 2023 at the invitation of its commander Dmytro Ivanov. From summer 2023 he served as RDK deputy commander for combat operations within the GUR-affiliated 'Timur' special unit. He took part in operations on the Zaporizhzhia, Avdiivka, Vovchansk and Kupiansk directions, in the Kozinka (Grayvoron) operation in Belgorod Oblast, and in cross-border operations in Bryansk Oblast. Akhmed Zakayev, head of the government of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in exile, traveled to Kyiv for Ukraine's Independence Day on 24 August. The episode unfolds against long-standing institutional rivalry between Ukraine's SBU and GUR.