Ukraine "Eliminates" Russian Spies In Kyiv Shootout

Ukraine has “eliminated” two suspected Russian secret agents in a gunfight at a suspected spy den in Kyiv, Antonia Langford reported for The Telegraph.

The man and woman killed were believed to be agents of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and suspected of orchestrating the assassination of Col. Ivan Voronich, a senior operative in Ukraine’s security service. I Photo: Commons: RIA Novosti

The man and woman killed were believed to be agents of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and suspected of orchestrating the assassination of one of Ukraine’s top intelligence officers earlier this week.

Ukrainian authorities say the pair coordinated the daylight killing of Col. Ivan Voronich, a senior operative in Ukraine’s security service, who was shot dead with a silenced pistol on a Kyiv street.

According to Ukrainian intelligence, the suspected assassins were discovered hiding in a safe house in the capital. Both were killed in a shootout with the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) after resisting arrest, the Associated Press (AP) also reported.

The SBU has not disclosed whether there were additional casualties in the exchange.

In a video posted on Telegram, Lt. Gen. Vasyl Malyuk, head of Ukraine’s security service, said: “As a result of covert investigative and active counter-intelligence activities, the enemy lair was discovered. During detention, they began to resist. There was a gunfight, so the villains were eliminated. I would like to remind you that the enemy’s only prospect on the territory of Ukraine is death.”

Malyuk claimed the suspects had been ordered to surveil the SBU officer, learn his daily routine, and were later given coordinates to retrieve a pistol with a silencer used in the killing.