Top Ukrainian spy assassinated in broad daylight in Kyiv, shooter on the run

A senior officer of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) was shot dead in a parking lot in Kyiv on Thursday afternoon. The killing happened in broad daylight in a residential area of the city, and the attacker escaped on foot, according to Ukrainian authorities.

The officer, identified by Ukrainian media as Colonel Ivan Voronych, was shot five times by a man with a pistol, reported Ukrainska Pravda. The incident took place in the Holosiivskyi district in the south of Kyiv.

Security footage circulating on social media shows a man leaving a residential building and walking toward a parking lot. Another man approaches him and fires several shots before running away. According to the news agency Reuters, the video’s location was verified by matching buildings and parking lot layouts with satellite images, and the timing was confirmed using the footage’s timestamp.

An official said that the victim was a colonel in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). However, the SBU has not publicly named the victim but confirmed that one of their staff was killed.

NO SUSPECT OR MOTIVE IDENTIFIED YET, SAY OFFICIALS

The motive behind the attack is unknown. The SBU said they are working with the National Police to find out what happened and who was behind the murder.

“The Security Service and the National Police are taking a comprehensive set of measures to clarify all the circumstances of the crime and bring the perpetrators to justice,” the SBU said in a statement.

The SBU is Ukraine’s domestic intelligence agency. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, the SBU has become more involved in secret operations, including sabotage missions and high-profile assassinations in Russia. These include the drone campaign called “Spider’s Web” that hit Russian airbases far from the frontlines, and the killing of a Russian general in Moscow using a bomb hidden in a scooter.

While Ukrainian authorities have not pointed fingers at anyone, some pro-Russian voices online reacted to the killing. So far, Russian officials have not commented on the killing. Meanwhile, Kyiv police said they have launched a manhunt to catch him.

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With inputs from Reuters