7 months ago
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A senior Ukrainian intelligence officer has been gunned down in Kyiv, officials have said.
CCTV footage published on social media showed the agent was slain in a residential parking lot on Thursday morning before a gunman clad in dark clothing fled the scene on foot in broad daylight. Kyiv’s police force said it was working to identify the shooter and that “measures are being taken to detain him”.
The victim’s name has not been publicly disclosed and the identity of the suspect remains unclear. A Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) official said that the intelligence officer had been a colonel, according to Reuters.
Ukrainska Pravda has claimed the agent was Colonel Ivan Voronych, adding he died at the scene after the assailant fired five aimed gun shots. The New York Times claimed that Voronych was a part of the SBU’s Centre for Special Operations Alpha and had been within the organisation for decades.
Kyiv Police confirmed a man was shot in the capital on Thursday. They said in a statement on social media: “Police officers establish circumstances of shooting in Holosiivskyi district of the capital.
“Arriving on call, law enforcement officers discovered the body of a man with a gunshot wound.
“Currently, investigative and operational groups of the district and main police departments, criminal investigation officers, dog handlers and other services are working at the scene. All circumstances of the incident are being established.”
It remains unclear whether the agent’s death was a domestic issue or an assassination. The Independent has contacted Kyiv Police and the SBU for comment.
The SBU is Ukraine’s internal security and counter-intelligence base, but since Russia began its full-scale invasion of the country three years ago, it has played a role in assassinations and sabotage attacks in Moscow.
The internal security agency played a key role in Ukraine’s Operation Spider Web attack on Russia last month, which is believed to have destroyed 40 Russian bombers used to pummel the war torn country over the past three years.
The death of the officer comes as Russia continues to intensify its aerial strikes against Ukraine, after the air force reported a record-breaking 728 drones and 13 cruise or ballistic missiles struck cities across the country on Tuesday.
