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Ukraine’s security agency said Sunday they have located and killed two Russian operatives accused of assassinating one of its senior officers.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced that its agents “eliminated” two Russian “hitmen” in the Kyiv region Sunday morning, in response to Thursday’s broad daylight killing of SBU Colonel Ivan Voronych.
Voronych—whose attack was captured on surveillance video—was reportedly involved in covert operations inside Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine and is believed to have played a role in organizing last year’s surprise Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.
“During a special operation, employees of the Security Service of Ukraine eliminated agents of Russian special services who, on the instructions of the FSB of the Russian Federation, carried out the murder of an SBU colonel in Kyiv,” the SBU statement read.
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A man identified by Ukrainska Pravda as Ukraine Col. Ivan Voronych is seen walking out of an apartment building in Kyiv on Thursday, July 10, just moments before the shooting. (East2West)
According to an investigation, the suspected killers—a man and a woman—were instructed to track Voronych’s movements and retrieve a silenced pistol from a stash site before carrying out the hit, the statement continued.
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Police investigate a shooting on Thursday, July 10, outside an apartment building in Kyiv Ukraine. Col. Ivan Voronych of the Security Service of Ukraine reportedly was killed in the attack. (East2West)
Vasyl Malyuk, head of the SBU and commander of the special operation, said the suspected Russian agents were “eliminated” after resisting arrest.
“The FSB agent-combat group was routed to Ukraine in advance and three days ago committed the murder of an SBU employee, our comrade Colonel Ivan Voronych,” Malyuk said in the statement. “As a result of covert investigative and active counterintelligence measures, the enemy’s lair was discovered. During the detention, they began to resist, there was a firefight, so the scoundrels were eliminated. I would like to remind you that the enemy’s only prospect on the territory of Ukraine is death!”
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A suspect is seen running away from the area after the shooting on Thursday, July 10, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (East2West)
Malyuk also thanked the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department for its support and emphasized that countering Russian espionage remains a top SBU priority. He claimed the SBU “prevents 85% of the crimes the enemy tries to commit” within Ukraine.
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Last Thursday, sources told Ukrainska Pravda 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 appeared to show the colonel being ambushed outside an apartment building while walking toward a vehicle. Voronych died at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds, the outlet said.
Both Russia and Ukraine have carried out targeted killings since the war began in February 2022.
Fox News’ Greg Norman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.