Kyiv: Ukrainian security forces announced on Sunday that they had eliminated members of a Russian espionage cell accused of assassinating Colonel Ivan Voronych of Ukraine’s SBU security service last week. The dramatic operation took place in the Kyiv region, where the suspects were reportedly cornered during a planned arrest and killed after resisting capture.
According to a statement released by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) via Telegram, the targets were operatives of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) suspected of carrying out the high-profile killing of Colonel Voronych in the capital on Thursday.
"This morning, a special mission was executed. When the FSB agents attempted to resist, they were neutralized," the SBU said, without disclosing the number of casualties. The agency identified the suspects as a man and a woman who had allegedly tracked the colonel’s movements before ambushing him with a silenced pistol, which they had retrieved from a hidden cache.
The pair reportedly tried to disappear after the hit, but were located and intercepted by Ukrainian counterintelligence teams and law enforcement officers in a swift follow-up operation.
The Kremlin has not issued a response to the incident, which mirrors a pattern of targeted killings on both sides throughout Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine since 2022. Past Ukrainian operations have similarly embarrassed Russian intelligence by exposing internal security lapses.
The SBU, whose role spans internal security and counterintelligence, has increasingly spearheaded bold special operations, including high-risk strikes, sabotage missions, and counterassassination efforts across war zones and occupied territories.
The agency described the killing of Voronych as a Russian effort to destabilize Ukraine's security leadership, but reaffirmed that the suspects’ elimination sent a clear message: "There will be no safe haven for enemy operatives on our soil."