Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine
The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine (HUR MOD) is a special intelligence body within the Ukrainian Armed Forces, subordinated to the Ministry of Defence. It is responsible for military intelligence, including strategic foreign intelligence and special operations conducted in the interests of national defence. The directorate is headed by an officer appointed by the President of Ukraine. It operates alongside the intelligence structures of the Security Service of Ukraine as part of the country's broader intelligence community.
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Assassination attempt on senior Russian bomber commander near Engels airbase
An unknown assailant on a motorcycle shot and critically wounded an officer of the Russian Aerospace Forces in the settlement of Probuzhdeniye, Engels district, Saratov Oblast, on the morning of 3 September 2026. Russian media identified the victim as Major General Mykola Varpakhovych, commander of the 22nd Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Division. The Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case on attempted murder and illegal arms trafficking charges. President Volodymyr Zelensky commented on the attempt in his evening address.
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Ukraine's SBU says it foiled alleged FSB plot to kill Chechen exile Zakayev; shootout with GUR in Kyiv sparks inter-agency crisis
Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) announced on 3 September that it had prevented an alleged FSB-ordered plot to assassinate Akhmed Zakayev, the exiled head of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria's government, who had travelled to Kyiv for Independence Day on 24 August. The SBU named Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) deputy commander Stepan Kaplunov as the alleged organizer. The case triggered a shootout between SBU and military intelligence (GUR) operatives in Kyiv's Berezniaky district on 2 September that left three GUR personnel wounded, and has escalated into an open clash between the two agencies over who is telling the truth about what happened.
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Shooting between SBU and HUR in Kyiv leads to dismissals and dismissal announcements at top of both services
On the night of 1 September into the morning of 2 September 2026, a shooting on Yurii Shumskoho Street in Kyiv's Berezniaky district brought the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and military intelligence (HUR) into an armed confrontation during investigative actions at the apartment of Stepan Kaplunov, deputy combat commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), who had been missing since 23 August. Three HUR servicemembers were wounded. President Volodymyr Zelensky called the incident "absolutely shameful," signed a decree dismissing Oleh Khramov from the SBU Department of State Secrets Protection and Licensing, and announced that deputies of the heads of both the SBU and HUR would also be dismissed. On 3 September, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said two participants — an SBU officer and a HUR servicemember — had been served with notices of suspicion.
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Zelensky dismisses senior SBU official after GUR–SBU shootout in Kyiv
President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on 2 September dismissing Oleh Vitaliyovych Khramov from the post of head of the SBU's Department of State Secrets Protection and Licensing. The dismissal follows an armed clash between personnel of Ukraine's military intelligence (GUR) and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Kyiv's Dnipro district, connected to the reported abduction of Russian Volunteer Corps deputy commander Stepan Kaplunov. Zelensky publicly framed the episode as unacceptable and signaled further personnel accountability.
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Ukrainian drones hit Novatek-Ust-Luga oil complex in Russia's Leningrad Oblast
Ukrainian forces struck the Novatek-Ust-Luga oil-processing complex in Russia's Leningrad Oblast overnight from August 31 to September 1, hitting key refining and technological equipment and triggering a large fire. Ukraine's military intelligence reported the attack, which targeted a facility whose output is linked to Russian military use.