Ukrainians who help Russia face being assassinated, says Kyiv security chief
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Ukrainians who collaborate with Russia face being killed as part of an assassination programme, the head of Kyiv’s security services has said.
Lt Gen Vasyl Malyuk, the SBU’s most senior officer, said covert operations had already targeted “very many” people responsible for war crimes and attacks against Ukrainian citizens.
The campaign, involving networks of secret agents and clandestine operatives, has prioritised Ukrainian nationals collaborating with the Kremlin’s occupation authorities, he said in an hour-long television interview.
“Officially, we will not admit to this,” Lt Gen Malyuk told the ICTV broadcaster. “But at the same time, I can offer some details.”
Moscow almost immediately moved to issue a warrant for the SBU head’s arrest on suspicion of participating in “terrorist acts” on Tuesday after the interview was broadcast.
Lt Gen Malyuk said once intelligence has been confirmed with national law enforcement agencies, the SBU is sanctioned to carry out the assassinations.
The most high-profile killing was that of Ukrainian-born Kremlin propagandist Vladlen Tatarsky, who was killed in a bombing at a St Petersburg cafe owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the late head of the Wagner mercenary organisation.
The SBU chief said his security service would not take responsibility for the assassination but confirmed an operative had duped a young woman into handing an explosive-laden statue to Tatarsky.
Darya Trepova, a Russian art school graduate who claims she was tricked into planting the bomb, was sentenced to 27 years in prison by a Moscow court in January.
Lt Gen Malyuk said Tatarsky deserved his fate because of the repeated abuse of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Illia Kyva, the former Ukrainian MP, was named as another victim of a Ukrainian state-sponsored assassination when he was shot dead in a village west of Moscow on Dec 6, 2023.
He had been convicted of treason by Kyiv and was accused of participating in anti-Ukrainian activities in cooperation with Russia’s FSB security service.
Lt Gen Malyuk said Kyva was executed by a pair of 9mm pistol shots at close range by a skilled assassin.
Zakhar Prilepin, a senior police official in the Russian-backed separatist government in occupied Luhansk, survived an assassination attempt when an anti-tank mine was detonated at a country house in the region, the SBU chief said. Several other police officials were killed and Prilepin was left maimed and an invalid.
Lt Gen Malyuk confirmed the highest-profile Ukrainian-backed assassination attempt was against Aleksandr Dugin, a Russian philosopher and close ally of Vladimir Putin.
Dugin’s daughter was killed in the failed plot when she switched cars with her father on Aug 20 2022.
Lt Gen Malyuk said the number of killings was substantial, without confirming an exact figure, and added more are likely to take place.
