Ukrainian law enforcement authorities said Wednesday that they foiled an alleged plot by Russia’s FSB security service to assassinate an anti-Kremlin “opposition leader” in the capital Kyiv.
According to Ukrainian media reports, the target of the assassination attempt was Stepan Kaplunov, deputy commander of combat operations for the Russian Volunteer Corps, a unit of far-right Russians fighting alongside Ukrainian forces.
On Tuesday, the Russian Volunteer Corps said Kaplunov had been abducted outside his home days earlier.
In a statement, Ukraine’s SBU security service said “a group of individuals carried out an armed attack” against its investigators during a search. The agency’s special forces returned fire to subdue the attackers, detaining the assailants and wounding several.
The SBU said that the assailants belong to “one of the units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.” It added that prosecutors have launched an investigation into the attempted murder of law enforcement officials.
Ukraine’s SBU did not identify the Russian opposition figure who was said to have been targeted by the FSB.
That statement came after reports and videos of an alleged shootout in Kyiv between SBU officers and members of Ukraine’s HUR military intelligence agency.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was said to have reprimanded the leadership of both the SBU and HUR for initially keeping silent about the apparent clash between their agencies.
According to Zelensky’s communications adviser, Dmytro Litvin, the president demanded that the two agencies inform the public about what happened.
Russia’s FSB has not responded to Ukraine’s allegations.
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