Pair of Russian agents suspected of killing Ukrainian security service colonel shot dead in Kyiv — Novaya Gazeta Europe
In a video posted to Telegram Sunday, SBU head Vasyl Malyuk accused Russia of deploying an FSB 'agent-combat group' to Ukraine to kill Colonel Ivan Voronych, who was fatally shot five times in Kyiv on Thursday by an unidentified assailant, who then fled the scene in an SUV.
Following Voronych's assassination, the SBU says its agents uncovered the location of a male and female FSB operative attempting to 'lie low' in Kyiv and killed both during a special raid after they resisted arrest.
According to the SBU, a silenced pistol that was likely used to murder Voronych was discovered at the residence of the suspected FSB agents.
'I want to remind everyone that the only prospect an enemy on the territory of Ukraine has is death,' Malyuk added.
On Thursday, The New York Times reported, citing one of Voronych's former colleagues, that Voronych had been a senior officer in the Fifth Directorate, an elite SBU unit responsible for killing a top Russian separatist commander named Arsen Pavlov, also known as Motorola, in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region in 2016.
Additionally, several social media posts by Ukrainian politicians and former intelligence officers suggested on Thursday that Voronych had helped found the SBU's Alpha Group, which Russian investigative outlet IStories noted is responsible for countering terror attacks, conducting sabotage in other countries, and protecting Ukrainian government officials.
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