Ukraine’s security agency (SBU) announced Sunday the killing of two Russian agents it accuses of assassinating a senior Ukrainian officer.
The SBU stated that its agents “eliminated” the two Russian “hitmen” in the Kyiv region on Sunday morning, following the killing of SBU Colonel Ivan Voronych on Thursday.
Voronych, whose attack was filmed by a surveillance camera, was allegedly involved in clandestine operations within Ukraine and is believed to have been involved in the Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk region last year.
The SBU stated that its agents “eliminated agents of Russian special services who, under the instruction of the FSB, carried out the murder of an SBU colonel in Kyiv during a special operation.”
The investigation revealed that a man and a woman were instructed to monitor Voronych’s movements and obtain a silenced pistol from a hidden location before carrying out the assassination, the statement continued.
Vasyl Malyuk, the head of the SBU and commander of the special operation, said that the suspected agents were “eliminated” after they resisted arrest.
“The FSB agent group was sent to Ukraine beforehand and committed the murder of SBU Colonel Ivan Voronych three days ago,” Malyuk said. “As a result of covert investigative and counterintelligence measures, the enemy’s hideout was discovered. During the attempted detention, they resisted, leading to a firefight, and their elimination. I want to reiterate that the only thing that awaits the enemy on Ukrainian soil is death!”
Malyuk also thanked the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department for their assistance and stressed that countering Russian espionage is a top SBU priority, claiming the SBU “prevents 85% of the crimes the enemy attempts to commit”.
Last Thursday, sources reported that Voronych was approached by an unidentified attacker around 9 a.m. local time and was shot five times with a pistol before the suspect fled.
Surveillance footage reportedly showed the colonel being ambushed outside an apartment building as he walked toward a vehicle. He died at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds, the outlet reported.
Both Russia and Ukraine have conducted assassinations since the start of the war in February 2022.
‘ Greg Norman and