State Bureau of Investigation
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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.